Paper Conservation Part II Consolidation by Grafting of Acrylic Monomers
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English Slovak |
| ISSN: | ISSN 0034-5806 |
| Online Access: | http://www.viks.sk/chk/res_3_01_164_180.doc |
| Abstract: | Summaries. In the present work a consolidation method for cellulose or paper is proposed, based on the insertion of an acrylic monomer on the cellulose macromolecule, exploiting its active sites deriving from oxidation. The acrylic monomers used are: methylmetacrylate, ethylacrylate and methylacrylate in the form of vapour and the copolymerisation reaction photo-induced by UV. Some parameters of the reaction have been studied and in particular the ratio of monomer conversion to the polymerisation time. Furthermore, this research focuses on the importance of the pre irradiation of the samples. The work has been carried out on pure cellulose, artificially oxidised with the purpose of applying the method to naturally aged paper documents. Conclusions. The results obtained in this work demonstrate that it is possible to carry out a photo-initiated grafting reaction of vaporized acrylic chains on the oxidised cellulose macromolecule and the grafting yields are remarkable even for relatively short reaction times. This is especially true if the oxidized cellulose is previously submitted to UV irradiation. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that it is particularly convenient to work with vaporized monomers since all the problems related to the use of liquid or monomers in solution are avoided. Using vaporized monomers represents a non-conventional system. Another advantage is that the quantity of homopolymer extracted from the fibres is drastically reduced (7-20%) and the access to the fibres is facilitated by employing samples "swollen" with deionised water. Finally, the absence of the solvent avoids also all the problems related to the solubility of the monomer. |
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| ISSN: | ISSN 0034-5806 |
