A procedure which can indicate in a relatively short period of time what will happen to book materials, (paper, ink, etc), while in storage for a long time.
Commonly involves heating a book in an oven under controlled conditions. Under ideal circumstances, the material is exposed to an environment which increases the rate of decomposition without changing its nature. Generally, heating paper for three days in an oven at 100 degrees C is equivalent to approximately 25 years under normal library storage conditions.
Although sound in theory, accelerated aging tests are currently of limited usefulness. Storage conditions vary widely; also, it is difficult to verify the accuracy of such tests except by lots of experiments conducted over a number of years. Such tests have been made, but to a limited extent. The strength of paper tends to diminish in storage, and experiments have shown that paper's folding endurance declines more quickly than other properties, like as tensile, or tearing, strength. Hence, folding endurance tests PLUS accelerated aging tests may provide a decent indication of a general loss of strength.
Also, as to the rate of deterioration, the effect of heat is very much like that of natural aging under average conditions; therefore, it is probably reasonable to assume that heat affords a practical means of accomplishing accelerated aging.
some information found at:
Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books
A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/don/toc/dontoc-a.html