Artworks in the lab. Current research projects at the Faculty of Chemistry of the Jagiellonian University

Conservation science as a discipline of chemistry has not reached in Poland the status of a mature research field with its own institutes or departments. Also in the system of higher education it is not present as a subject of studies at the three Bologna cycles of education. Research funding is very limited as conservation science is not listed among the candidate disciplines for ministerial support. Despite all of the listed problems, the field attracts many scientists at Polish research institutions. The various activities of the Paper Degradation and Stability Lab (Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Krakow) illustrate this devotion. Three projects are currently carried out in the lab: paper deacidification and strengthening using aminosilanes, anoxia as a preventative measure for artworks using light-sensitive tinted paper, and archival boxes with added functionality - pollution control by sorbents incorporated into the cardboard

Oxidative degradation of non-recycled and recycled paper

AbstractThe degradation of paper-based materials involves several and complex mechanisms, such as hydrolysis and oxidation. The behaviour of different types of pulps can be very variable. In this study, the difference upon oxidation of contemporary non-recycled and recycled papers, which now constitute a considerable fibre source, is investigated. A 0.015 M potassium periodate solution is used to oxidise five types of paper, two non-recycled and three recycled, for 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 h. The effects of such oxidation treatments are evaluated in terms of carbonyl content and degree of polymerisation (DP). A modified procedure of the Szabolcs's method and viscometry are used to measure the carbonyl content and DP, respectively. The carbonyl groups are found to increase more rapidly in the recycled papers than in the non-recycled ones. On the contrary, oxidation causes a larger decrease of the DP values in the non-recycled papers, the paper made of pure cellulose being the most sensitive in terms of depolymerisation. The DP values measured for pure cellulose paper are in line with previously reported data. Moreover, in accordance with the Ekenstam equation, the plots of the reciprocal of DP as a function of oxidation time show good linear correlations for all types of paper investigated. Pseudo rate constants are thus calculated from the slopes of these plots, those of the non-recycled papers being found to be higher than those of the recycled papers. Graphic abstrac