Ink
Ink can be a complex medium, composed of solvents, pigments, dyes, resins, lubricants, solubilizers, surfactants, particulate matter, fluorescents, and other materials.
Many ancient cultures around the world have independently discovered and formulated inks due to the need to write and draw.
The recipes and techniques for the production of ink are derived from archaeological analyses or from written texts itself.
The earliest inks from all civilizations are believed to have been made with lampblack, a kind of soot, easily collected as a by-product of fire.
[5] Egyptian red and black inks included iron and ocher as pigments, in addition to phosphate, sulfate, chloride, and carboxylate ions, with lead also used as a drier.
Direct evidence for the earliest Chinese inks, similar to modern inksticks, is found around 256 BC, in the end of the Warring States period; being produced from soot and animal glue.
[9] The preferred inks for drawing or painting on paper or silk are produced from the resin of the pine trees between 50 and 100 years old.
[14] The practice of writing with ink and a sharp pointed needle was common in early South India.
Over time it fades to a dull brown.Scribes in medieval Europe (about AD 800 to 1500) wrote principally on parchment or vellum.
One 12th century ink recipe called for hawthorn branches to be cut in the spring and left to dry.
Once dried, the mixture was mixed with wine and iron salt over a fire to make the final ink.
Eventually an oily, varnish-like ink made of soot, turpentine, and walnut oil was created specifically for the printing press.
[20] Pigment molecules typically link together in crystalline structures that are 0.1–2 μm in size and comprise 5–30 percent of the ink volume.
[20] Qualities such as hue, saturation, and lightness vary depending on the source and type of pigment.Solvent-based inks are widely used for high-speed printing and applications that require quick drying times.
However, because dyes are dissolved in the liquid phase, they have a tendency to soak into paper, potentially allowing the ink to bleed at the edges of an image.
If the dye has the opposite charge, it is attracted to and retained by this coating, while the solvent soaks into the paper.
[23] These effects can be caused by solvents, or by pigment ingredients such as p-Anisidine, which helps create some inks' color and shine.
[25] Carbon inks were commonly made from lampblack or soot and a binding agent such as gum arabic or animal glue.
The best method of preserving a document written in carbon ink is to store it in a dry environment (Barrow 1972).
The original scores of Johann Sebastian Bach are threatened by the destructive properties of iron gall ink.
Corrosion is caused by acid catalyzed hydrolysis and iron(II)-catalysed oxidation of cellulose (Rouchon-Quillet 2004:389).
