A Review of the Relationship Between Thermally-Accelerated Ageing of Paper and Hornification.

A link is drawn between paper hornification and low temperature thermally-accelerated ageing of paper based on a review of existing research. Similarities between treatment temperature, humidity, resultant physical properties, and possible degradation mechanisms are enumerated. Hornification can be explained by irreversible intra-fibre hydrogen bonding, whereas accelerated ageing is normally attributed to chain scission and cross linking. However, in the light of the similar experimental protocols used to investigate each, the possibility of both mechanisms occurring in both experiments should be considered. The short timescales of hornification would seem to preclude chain scission and cross linking, but it seems possible that irreversible hydrogen bonding occurs during dry accelerated ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]