An half-written investigation into the sensitivity of alkyl dimer sized paper to solvent treatments, abandoned once someone else

published a similar article, and uploaded so that I could in return download an article.
Introduction Alkylketene dimers (AKD) make effective sizing agents because, as long organic molecules, they have long hydrophobic hydrocarbon tails to repel water and a more reactive region to bond to the paper. They were developed in response to the realisation that alum-rosin size, through the aluminium ions present, actively caused cellulose deterioration through acid-catalysed chain scission. Initially used in making paper destined for ephemeral uses they can now also be found in a wide range of papers and boards including artists' papers, conservation boards, book papers, copy papers, photographic papers and newsprint. Today, AKD is the most common internal sizing agent in Europe's papermaking industry.1 This means that there is an increasing likelihood that artworks on AKD-sized supports will be presented for conservation. Alkylketene dimer emulsions were developed in the 1950s by the Hercules Powder Company (now Hercules Incorporated). There are, as with most industrial products, various formulations with many additives including cationic stabilisers, additional sizing agents, wet-strength polymers and retention aids for incorporating calcium carbonate.23 Other cellulose-reactive sizes have been developed utilising the same principle of imparting waterresistance through bonding long hydrocarbon tails to the paper. These include (in order of increasingly strong covalent bonding with the cellulose) alkenylsuccinic anhydrides (ASA) and stearic anhydrides (SA).4 Sizing chemistry Alkylkete dimers consist of two long-chain fatty acids (R-CO-OH) joined by a square, and hence unstable, C-C-C-O ring. Ideally this opens to react with cellulose -OH groups to bond the fatty acids to the cellulose chain (esterisation). In practice a number of end results are possible: the dimer may remain unchanged it could react with water to form a -keto acid which then in turn undergoes a condensation reaction to give a ketone (with no sizing ability) oligomer molecules containing more than two fatty acid monomers may form (with weak sizing ability) the ideal esterisation reaction (imparting good sizing).5 The extent to which each of these occurs is uncertain and are probably subject to many variables. Composition A 1962 document describes Aquapel 360 as containing 3% cationic starch as a stabiliser and retention aid and 6% Aquapel 364 (Aquapel 364 being a mixture of 45% stearic acid to 55% palmitic acid).6
1 H. Hundhausen, H. Militz, C. Mai, 'Use of Alkyl Ketene Dimer (AKD) for Surface Modification of Particleboard Chips', http://goedoc.uni-goettingen.de/goescholar/bitstream/goescholar/3466/1/107_2008_Article_275.pdf (Accessed 21 May 2010) 2 H. H. Epsy, 'The Genesis of Alkaline Sizing and Alkaline-curing Wet-Strength Resins', Alkaline Paper Advocate 3 3 1990, http://cool.conservation-us.org/byorg/abbey/ap/ap03/ap03-3/ap03-307.html (Accessed 19 May 2010) 3 M. Hubbe, 'Mini-Encyclopedia of Papermaking Wet-End Chemistry, Alkylketene dimer', http://www4.ncsu.edu/~hubbe/AKD.htm (Accessed 21 May 2010) 4 W. Henry, 'Sizing/re-sizing', Paper Conservation Catalog , http://cool.conservationus.org/coolaic/sg/bpg/pcc/17_sizing-resizing.pdf (Accessed 19 May 2010) 5 M. Hubbe, 'Mini-Encyclopedia of Papermaking Wet-End Chemistry, Alkylketene dimer', http://www4.ncsu.edu/~hubbe/AKD.htm (Accessed 21 May 2010) 6 T. A Howells, L.E. Leporte, 'A Procedure for the Manufacture of Sized Diffusion Board', The Institute of Paper

Identification test As some AKD internally sized papers are also surface sized using starch as positive (black) iodine/potassium iodide test might provide the first indication that a paper is AKD sized. I failed to find a chemical test to successfully confirm the presence of AKD. In use Conroy writes that 'Papermakers prefer cellulose reactive internal sizes like Aquapel and Hercon-40 because they reduce double handling and wet time; users dislike them because they make it hard to relax paper by wetting it out, and because if the size is unevenly distributed then ink will not take in some parts of the sheet but will feather in others.7' Having chemically boned to the cellulose, the sizes are not then lost during solvent treatments, although excess, unreacted size can be dissolved. Chemically bonded size may be at risk of deterioration if subjected to prolounged high temperatures or high pH levels, givbing rise to ketone by-products.

Technology, Appleton, Winconson. http://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/handle/1853/1221/2256_000_11291962.pdf;jsessionid=E29A9332D5BD7F24 D340CF9EBDEB4BCF.smart2?sequence=1 (Accessed 10 October 2010) 7 T. Conroy, 'The Need for a Re-evaluation of the Use of Alum in Book Conservation and the Book Arts', The Book and Paper Group Annual, volume 8, 1989. http://www.cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/sg/bpg/annual/v08/bp0802.html (Accessed 9 October 2010)