Minimally invasive identification of degraded polyester-urethane magnetic tape using attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and multivariate statistics.

Audio recordings are a significant component of the world's modern cultural history and are retained for future generations in libraries, archives, and museums. The vast majority of tapes contain polyester-urethane as the magnetic particle binder, the degradation of which threatens the playability and integrity of these often unique recordings. Magnetic tapes with stored historical data are degrading and need to be identified prior to digitization and/or preservation.