Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Synchrotron-based infrared (IR) microspectroscopy and synchrotron-based x-ray fluorescence have been used to study the chemistry of ink-paper material interactions as a function of both ink type and artificial aging of the ink-papersets as occurs in normal handwriting. IR band intensities and band intensity ratios for functional groups of chemical molecules that are inherent to the experimental system are discussed in the context of molecular components as they are perturbed by interactions between the ink and paper surfaces. Metallic components of some inks and their interactions with the paper are also discussed. Changes in the chemistry of the ink and its related kinetics will be discussed in context of the aging process. This work was supported by the Special Technologies Program, the Center for Science and Engineering Education (CSEE) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Science Division, of the U. S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-ACO3-76SF00098.