U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: Miracle size for gum

Re: Miracle size for gum



Loris,
It is an AKD emulsion--alkyl ketene dimer. Here's what I have in my notes:

A new sizing agent on the market is Aquapel, or alkyl ketene dimer (AKD for short). At time of

use, dilute it with water to desired strength, apply to the paper, and iron to heat at 105 degrees.

Chris



__________________


Christina Z. Anderson
http://christinaZanderson.com/
__________________
----- Original Message ----- From: "Loris Medici" <mail@loris.medici.name>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 7:49 AM
Subject: Re: Miracle size for gum


Christina, aquapel sounds extremely plausible to my ears, since it's
already used as an internal sizing agent in many papers which are
friendly to iron processes. (Most notably pure pt which is
incompatible with gelatin sizings AFAIK... Also new cyanotype and
argyrotype which are pretty picky about paper.) OTOH, aquapel comes in
different strengths and properties depending on the application (it's
also used as a concrete additive for instance), so one has to grab the
right one and use it in the right dilution in order to achieve with
the purpose. Meanwhile, aquapel could be a trademarked name for a
generic monomer/polymer, therefore I'm not sure how to ask about it to
chemistry suppliers.

Regards,
Loris.


2009/10/10 Christina Z. Anderson <zphoto@montana.net>:
...
My results with acrylic sizing in the past have been iffy at best, but perhaps
this is the ticket. I know Peter Blackburn swears by Aquapel, which I also
have to try here. So many sizes, so little time....