The annals of the Joseon Dynasty was listed to the national treasure No 151 and UNESCO inheritance for the valuable historical document material of Joseon Dynasty from 1392 to 1863.
The annals of the Joseon Dynasty were composed of 2,077 books, and the 475 books of total annals was wax-treated. Compared to non-treated books, beeswax treated books of the annals was seriously damaged due to crack, stick, discoloration to red, brown and black, and partially degradation. It is believed that the purpose of wax treatment for Hanji of some volumes in the annals of the Joseon Dynasty is to prevent paper to deteriorate and to keep for the more long time. But, natural wax(beeswax) could be deteriorated itself more rapidly. As a result, the beeswax treated books in the annals of the Joseon Dynasty was much more damaged than non-treated books. Therefore, the investigation of decomposition and deterioration mechanism of natural wax which might be used in beeswax treated books of the annals of the Joseon Dynasty must be done in order to prevent further decomposition and to restore the degraded beeswax-treated books of the annals.
The Wax is mixtures of organic substances, usually long chain molecules. It is composed with hydrocarbons, tri-, di- or mono-esters of medium length fatty acids, long chain alcohols, free long alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, diketones, sterols, triterpenols and triterpenic acids. The chemical compositions of wax mainly depend on the IR origins, like as animal, vegetal or mineral.
A paper is formed from network structure between cellulose and non cellulose (hemicelluloses and lignin). These materials are held together with hydrogen bonds. The improvement of the mechanical properties between these constituents in paper sheet can be achieved by increasing the crossing between the cellulose fibers. A number of polymer materials have been applied, which increase the interfiber bonding between the cellulose chains in the formed paper sheets. These include carboxymethyl cellulose, cellulose acetate, phenol formaldehyde resin solution, cationic starch, cationic polyacrylamides and PVA. Each of these polymers must enable the inter-fiber bonding areas to remain chemically linked in the presence of water.

In this study, aging mechanism of beeswax and beeswax treated Hanji were identified by various aging analysis for possible damage proof of the annals of the Joseon Dynasty. And 21 polymers(water soluble-, solvent soluble- and acrylic monomer grafted polymer) were treated on damaged Hanji for paper strength improvement.

The results of this study were summarized as follow :

1. Acid value and oxidation index of beeswax were increased by aging time. This reason is that fatty acid ester in beeswax was attacked by oxidation and carboxyl groups was formed.

2. There were identified by HTGC/MS analysis that lauric acid(C12), tetradecanoic acid(C14) and palmitic acid(C16) were formed by hydrolysis of fatty ester in beeswax.

3. The molecular weight(MW) of non-treated beeswax was mainly about 1,900 g/mol region. but, MW of beeswax in 120 days aged beeswax treated Hanji were decreased about 1,900 g/mol region and increased about 400 g/mol region by aging.

4. The cellulose crystallinity of damaged Hanji was increased at 15 days aging, because of easily attack of amorphous regions. But, cellulose crystallinity of that was decreased after 30 days aging by breaking of crystalline regions.

5. The methyl methacrylate treatment of damaged Hanji was the most compared to other materials. The best aging safety and thermal stability were obtained at the MMA in acrylic monomer.