posted on 2024-03-13, 22:17authored byXiaodong Lian, Chen Yu, Wenwen Han, Bing Li, Meifang Zhang, Yapei Wang, Liusan Li
Palm leaves are the primary literary support in South
and Southeast
Asia before the widespread use of paper. However, palm leaf manuscripts
face the threat of information loss due to the persistent issue of
ink flaking during long-term preservation. Herein, we focus on studying
the botanical structure, surface properties, and surface composition
of palm leaves to gain an insightful understanding of the mechanism
of ink flaking. According to the surface energy analysis, the surface
of palm leaves is dominated by the dispersive component due to the
presence of hydrophobic substances, resulting in the weak interaction
between the handwriting and palm leaves. Moreover, the accumulation
of silicon on palm leaves creates a “cuticle-silicon double
layer”, leading to a dense structure that hinders deep ink
absorption. These two main reasons are considered to cause the ink
flaking easily, which is further proven by the ink flaking test with
the simulated palm leaf manuscripts. To the best of our knowledge,
this is the first in-depth technical study on the adhesion performance
of handwriting on plant leaves. This work also provides a theoretical
basis for the study of the deterioration, adhesive repair, enhancement
of flexibility, handwriting reinforcement, and beyond, which contributes
to the conservation of precious palm leaf manuscripts.