The Effect of Alum and Metals on Paper Aging

초록

The papers in preserved books and archives experience aging which was affected by a variety of factors. Thus, the studies concerning impacts of those factors on paper aging are required. In this research, a simulation of a short-time accelerated paper aging was conducted in order to examine the effects of acid and metals (alum, copper (Ⅱ) sulfate, copper (Ⅱ) chloride, and iron (Ⅲ) chloride) on the natural paper aging for a long time. As a result of experiments, it is found that both acid and metals have impacts on paper aging. Alum resulted in the significant decrease of pH, brightness, folding endurance, and viscosity of paper. Both copper (II) chloride and iron (III) chloride also resulted in the decrease of brightness, folding endurance, and viscosity of paper. In more detail, paper aging by iron (Ⅲ) chloride showed much more significant than that by copper (II) chloride. The paper aging in case of copper (Ⅱ) sulfate coexisting sulfate ion, where metal absorbed moisture was higher than in case of paper treated only by alum. This result indicated that metal catalyzes paper aging by acid. Based on these results, it was revealed that both alum and metal are the major factors in paper aging. In particular, paper aging was far more accelerated in case when acid and metals existed in paper at the same time.

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