Abstract
This study was carried out in order to elucidate the deterioration mechanism of paper according to various sizing chemicals. No additive paper and four kinds of papers containing rosin-alum, alum only, alkylketene dimer(AKD)-cation polymer and cation polymer only were treated by UV light to study changes of water-resistant, optical and mechanical properties from the view points of natural deterioration of paper. Since rosin chemicals have UV absorption at the relatively long wavelength region, rosins are degraded to form hydrophilic groups such as carboxylic acid from their double bonds by UV treatments. These phenomena caused the decreasing of sizing degree and wetting time in case of rosin-sized paper, while the UV treatments brought about the slight increase of wetting time in rosin-free papers such as no additive, alum and kymene only paper owing to the auto-sizing effect. Optical properties were primarily influenced by sizing chemicals. Rosin-sized paper showed lower brightness after UV and near UV treatment because of its UV instability.