Internal Contributing Factors

Paper is mostly made up of cellulose fibers, but also contains lignin, alum-rosin sizing (which contains aluminium sulfate) and other chemicals, which hold the paper together. The permanence and durability of paper depends on a number of factors:

Internal factors: these are established during the manufacturing process and include the type and quality of the fibers, sizing material and the presence of acidic compounds. The manufacture of paper involves the cooking and beating of the cellulose fibers, causing them to interlock, thus creating the papers strength. Sizing is then carried out to make sure that fiber bondage occurs. However paper consisting of unpurified ground-wood fibers has a much shorter life expectancy than paper made from purified wood pulp as the ground wood fibers are weaker and so do not interlock as well. Furthermore, if the sizing agent has the potential to introduce some acid into the neutral fibers the life expectancy of the paper decreases even further.
It is the manufacturers responsibility for the potential permanence of the paper and so the following should be excluded from the paper making process.

• Ground wood fibers
• Iron
• Copper minerals
• Alum-rosin sizing
• Residual bleaching chemicals
• Acidic compounds