paper
Let an agent treat paper as a material with a grade and a weight that decide what can be done with it, rather than as an undifferentiated white sheet.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
Let an agent treat paper as a material with a grade and a weight that decide what can be done with it, rather than as an undifferentiated white sheet.
A thin sheet material made from cellulose fibres pressed together while wet and dried, used to write on, print on, wrap with and wipe with.
What it is for: Carrying marks that last: writing, printing and records, and beyond that packaging, hygiene and filtering.
It can be write and print on it, which depends on surface and absorbency; fold, cut and bind it; wrap and protect things with it; wet it, which usually ruins it; burn it, which is why fire load is a real constraint on archives; recycle it, a fixed number of times before the fibres are too short.
Distinguishing features
Made of pressed cellulose fibre, which separates it from plastic film and from parchment
A material, not a document: the sheet and what is written on it are different things
Grade and grammage decide use more than any other property
Acidity decides how long it lasts, which is why archival paper is a separate grade
What it looks like
Flat sheets or reels, usually white but made in any colour, from tissue thin enough to see through to board stiff enough to stand.
Physical character
grammage: 30-400 g/m2 - 80 is ordinary office paper; above about 250 it is usually called board
thickness: 0.05-0.5 mm
moisture content: 4-8 % - paper takes up and gives off water with the air, which is why it curls and jams
ignition temperature: 218-246 C
How it is recognised
Grammage, judged by feel rather than sight, is the property that decides what a paper can be used for
Watermarks and laid lines, visible against light, identify a maker and sometimes a period
Grain direction, found by tearing or bending, decides how it folds and how it curls
Coating and finish, seen at a glancing angle, decide how ink behaves on it
Related models
is a kind of - inherits composition, grade and handling questions
carries - the document is the content and the record; paper is one carrier
is confused with - the boundary is grammage and is conventional
is made from - the supply chain and its certification start there
In practice
Families and kinds
by use: writing, printing, packaging, tissue, speciality
by grade: uncoated, coated, recycled, archival, security
by form: sheet, reel, board
by fibre: virgin, recycled, mixed
Identifiers
grammage and format e.g. 80 g/m2 A4 how paper is actually specified and ordered
ISO 216 A, B, C series the format standard used almost everywhere except North America
chain of custody certification FSC or PEFC code about the fibre source, not the paper
Standards and regulation
ISO 216, which defines the A and B paper sizes
ISO 9706 and equivalents, which define permanence for archival paper
Food contact regulations, for paper used in packaging
Forest certification schemes, which govern claims about fibre origin
Failure modes and hazards
Acid degradation, which turns nineteenth and twentieth century paper brittle and yellow
Water and humidity, which cause cockling, mould and complete loss
Fire, where paper is the fuel that makes archives and offices burn
Jamming and misfeeding in machines, which is a grain and moisture problem rather than a machine one
Also called
+142
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Also registered as vr.tr.paper-communication
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.
Grade and specification What paper this is, in the terms it is bought and used in.
Paper is specified by grammage, format and grade, and every use question is answered from those three rather than from appearance.
Specification
Grammage, format, finish and grade.
How it is specified
The numbers that identify a paper for use.
- What grammage, format, finish and grade is this paper? definition
- Which of those must be matched exactly for the intended use, and which may vary? boundary
Fibre and origin
What it is made from and where that came from.
Fibre composition and claims
Virgin against recycled, and the certification attached.
- What fibre is this paper made from, and what certification covers its origin? provenance
- What does that certification not assert about the paper itself? boundary
Behaviour in use How it behaves when written on, printed on and handled.
Most practical paper problems are about how a grade behaves in a process, not about what it is made of.
Printability and surface
How ink and toner behave on it.
Surface behaviour
Absorbency, coating and what they do to marks.
- How does this paper take ink or toner, and what does that constrain? measurement
- Which processes is it unsuitable for, and how would that show? boundary
Mechanical behaviour
Folding, tearing, curling and grain.
Grain and handling
How direction and moisture govern handling.
- Which way does the grain run, and how does that affect folding and feeding? measurement
- What handling or conditioning does the process require before use? action
Permanence and storage How long it lasts and under what conditions.
Paper is a record carrier, so its lifetime is the lifetime of what is written on it, and that is decided by chemistry and storage.
Permanence
Acidity, lignin and expected life.
Expected life and its basis
What determines how long the sheet survives.
- What is the expected permanence of this paper, on what basis? measurement
- Which standard does it meet, and what does that standard actually promise? provenance
Storage conditions
Temperature, humidity, light and handling.
Required storage
Conditions that keep the promise, and what breaks it.
- What storage conditions does this paper require to reach its expected life? definition
- What must an agent do when stored paper shows cockling, foxing or mould? action
Supply and disposal Getting it and getting rid of it.
Paper is bought by specification and disposed of by stream, and both are constrained by rules the user rarely sees.
Supply and substitution
Availability and what may be substituted.
Substitution rules
What may replace a specified grade without changing the outcome.
- Which grades may substitute for this one, and what changes if they do? boundary
- What must be verified before accepting a substitution in a controlled process? action
Disposal and recycling
Streams, contamination and confidentiality.
Disposal route
Where it goes and what disqualifies it.
- Which disposal or recycling route applies to this paper, and what contaminates it? definition
- What must be destroyed rather than recycled, and under whose rule? action
What the second pass must settle
- Should paper the material and the sheet in hand be separate models, since grade belongs to the material and condition to the sheet?
- How should permanence claims be represented so they stay tied to the storage conditions they assume?
- What is the right way to record recycled content when the fibre mix varies between reels of one grade?