Mass deacidification and reinforcement of papers and books VI - Study of aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane treated papers

In libraries and archives some of the items which, upon ageing, have acidified considerably since their production are so brittle that they cannot be handled without risking loss of material. In contrast to current deacidification processes, aminoalkylakoxysilanes (AAAS) improve the mechanical properties of paper. A simple AAAS, aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane (AMDES) was used as a model to better understand previous observations made on these systems (hydrolysis, condensation and possible reactions with the organic substrate). The evaluation of the mechanical properties of papers that were treated with AMDES showed that there was no formation of a polymer network on the fibres’ surface. However, treated papers not only exhibited a high alkaline reserve, but also a significant increase in both their tensile breaking length and their folding endurance. Treatment of hygrothermally aged papers with AMDES provided improved folding endurance as well as a good resistance to ageing. Various oxidation treatments of the model papers using sodium hypochlorite led to the conclusion that the nature of the oxidised groups formed on cellulose did not seem to play a significant role in the strengthening mechanism but rather that this effect of AMDES mainly arose from hydrogen bonding between the two molecules.