Abstract

Cultural heritages represent the histories and intellectual level of a country. The Annals of Joseon Dynasty are regarded as the most valuable resources containing the record of Korean history. In some periods, wax-treated paper was used as the material of the Annals of Joseon Dynasty. Many previous studies have focused on the development of paper used as the material of the Annals of Joseon Dynasty, but the manufacture method of wax-treated volumes and the degradation mechanism of wax have been not fully understood yet. The purposes of the present study are to produce various kinds of wax-treated paper using by different coating methods and to analyse the morphological properties of wax-treated paper. The analysis of SEM demonstrates that beeswax treated paper made by brushing method produces flatter surface and more excellent penetration. Wax layer is produced on the cross section of beeswax treated paper as the increase of coating amount.

Keywords

• The annals of Joseon Dynasty;
• beeswax;
• cross-section;
• coating;
• brushing;
• dipping