Paper cultural properties, which is composed of cellulose, can be naturally degraded even if it is stored in controlled environment. Therefore, evaluating the condition of paper is important for preventing further degradation and for conservation treatment.
In this study, the new approach for evaluating the hydrolysis of paper was proposed; the neutral sugars dissolved in aqueous solution after extracting the Whatman no. 1 paper and Hanji in water were evaluated using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In addition, the degree of polymerization (DP) of paper was evaluated using size exclusion chromatography-multi-angle light scattering (SEC-MALS). The permanence of paper was predicted through the relationship between the neutral sugars and the degree of polymerization.
The DP of paper decreased with increasing aging temperature and aging period, however the reduction became small as it approached the leveling off degree of polymerization (LODP). The rate of cellulose chain scission (kt) of Whatman no. 1 paper is higher than Hanji because the hydronium ion concentration was more high in Whatman no. 1 resulting in acting as the acid catalyst. The predicted rate of cellulose chain scission showed that Whatman no. 1 paper would deteriorate nine times faster than Hanji at 20℃.
D-Glucose was the most abundant in the solution after extraction of Whatman no. 1 and Hanji in water, and it increased proportionally with increasing aging temperature and aging period. Oligosaccharide contents were more higher than monosacchride contents, therefore, it was appropriate to evaluate the degradation with oligosaccharides.
The relationship between the rate of cellulose chain scission (kt) and the oligosaccharide was linear therefore, the DP was predicted using this linear function. As a result of predicting the DP as a function of oligosaccharide contents, the error range between the predicted DP and actual DP of Whatman no. 1 was in the range of 1.5~7.1%, in the case of Hanji, the error range was in the range of 0.1~22.1%. Thus, there is a possibility that the permanence of paper can be predicted by analyzing the sugar content.