In depths of paper: A microscale experimental story

Speaking of conservation of articles in museums and collections there is no question about the importance of better understanding of how paper degrades. Loss of mechanical properties, due to degradation through the ages, dramatically influences the accessibility of books, artworks and documents. The change in these properties starts from atomic levels and travels across scales to result in tangible changes in the scale of the sheets of paper. Advanced measurement techniques make it possible to dive into the depths of these processes in smaller scales than before with impressively high accuracies. In this presentation I will introduce the experimental methodology to study the mechanical behaviour of single cellulose fibres, the building block of paper. An optical profilometer, a micro-tensile stage and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique come together to result in a deeper understanding of the mechanics of each fibre. Such detailed assessment of cellulose fibres’ properties can be applied to naturally aged paper samples, or combined with accelerated aging experiments to shed valuable light on the degradation of paper, and provide better guidance for conservators.