Moroccan manuscript paper (Sample H)

Ingredients

cellulose, calcium carbonate, Kaolin, barium sulfate, alum (KAlSO4)

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Historical paper treated with aqueous Ca(OH)2 de-acidification and Japanese paper consolidation. The presence of sulfur (S) and potassium (K) in the absence of aluminum suggests the potential use of alum (KAlSO4) as a filler or sizing agent during original manufacture, or gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O) (Section 3.3, p. 654).

Evidence

"Sample H seems to be the most altered sample in what concerns phosphorus content, indeed P amount decreased down to 4000 ± 400 μg/g after 28 days while it was detected at 8000 ± 800 μg/g in 1 day of weathering."

Remarks

Sample H was identified as particularly vulnerable to moist heat aging. Its crystallinity index (CrI%) dropped from 80.31% to 50.41% after 28 days of dry heat aging, and to 64.20% after moist heat aging (Section 3.2, Table 3 & 4). Phosphorus (P) levels in this sample also showed the most dramatic decline among all ancient papers during the weathering process (Section 3.3, p. 654).