Journal of Korea TAPPI ISSN:0253-3200(Print) 펄프종이기술

This study aims to investigate the applicability of supercritical fluid extraction as a dewaxing technique to restore the beeswax-treated volume of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty in various deterioration and damage conditions. Thus, this study analyzed the dewaxing efficiency and changes in physical and morphological properties before and after dewaxing, by applying the optimal supercritical fluid extraction dewaxing condition (70℃, 40 MPa, CO2, Co-solvent 20% DCM, 2 hour) to 3 kinds of beeswax-treated paper with different deterioration rates (dry artificial aging of 10, 20 and 30 days at 120℃).

After dry artificial aging at 120℃ for 30 days, the average molecular weight of the beeswax-treated specimen was 1.856×105 g/mol, showing deterioration about 80% of the beeswax-treated paper before dewaxing. It was a similar level to the molecular weight of the bees-waxed volume of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty that has a higher degree of damage. As a result of analyzing the dewaxing efficiency through FT-IR analysis, this study discovered that it was possible to effectively dewax beeswax-treated paper in the range of deterioration 20 to 80% with this supercritical fluid extraction dewaxing technique applied. As a result of analyzing changes in the physical and morphological properties before and after dewaxing, the viscosity tended to decrease to a slight degree, and since no morphological deformation or damage of stencil fibers was found, it was concluded possible to conduct stable dewaxing through this supercritical fluid extraction technique.