Cai Lun, the eunuch in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, was recognized as the inventor of papermaking.
According to Ye Fan's Book of the Later Han Dynasty, "Cai Lun, with respect, is also a native of Guiyang. ..... Since ancient times, many book contracts have used bamboo slips, and those who use silks are called' paper'. Expensive and simple, inconvenient for people. Lennart created this idea, using bark, hemp head, our cloth and fishing nets as paper. In the first year of Yuanxing, play it. " The emperor's ability is superior, so he always uses it wisely, so the world calls it Cai Hou paper.
This is the earliest record of papermaking in historical documents. As can be seen from the records, the raw materials used for papermaking in Cai Lun are low-priced materials such as bark, hemp head, old cloth and fishing net. Therefore, the paper made by this method has low cost and can be popularized and applied soon.
But before some documents recorded Cai Lun, there were examples of using paper. For example, Ban Gu's Hanshu used paper to wrap medicine two years ago BC/KLOC-0. In particular, the paper of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Fangmatan, Tianshui, Gansu, the beacon tower site in Maquanwan, Dunhuang, and the post office site in Hanxuanquan, Ganquan, Dunhuang since the beginning of this century have been proved by existing physical objects that paper was used in the Western Han Dynasty long before Cai Lun invented papermaking. This is about 170 years before Cai Lun invented papermaking.
It can be seen that paper was invented as early as the Western Han Dynasty. At that time, the quality of paper was so poor that it could not be used for writing. It was not until the late Western Han Dynasty that the quality of paper was improved. On the basis of this paper-making technology, Cai Lun improved the raw materials and technology, and produced high-quality paper. In particular, Cai Lun has expanded the raw materials for papermaking, providing conditions for the extensive use of various plant fibers for papermaking in the future.
In 105, the paper made in Cai Lun has been able to meet the requirements of writing. For Cai Lun, the purpose of papermaking is to replace wooden slips, bamboo slips, silk books and other materials for writing and recording words, and it is widely used because of its advantages of light paper and low price.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, papermaking surpassed that of Cai Lun.
In the 4th century, bamboo slips, silk and paper were used together. With the continuous improvement of paper quality and output, paper has become an indispensable writing material for literati.
There are few historical records about the ancient papermaking methods in China, but the papermaking technology and its principle have not changed much since it was invented two thousand years ago. To sum up, the following points can be summarized:
First, cut plants, such as hemp plants, are soaked in water, peeled, chopped with a knife, boiled in a pot, soaked and trampled after cooling, and stirred with a stick to make their fibers break and thin.
Secondly, add auxiliary materials to make paper pulp.
Thirdly, it can be dried by a paper machine (bamboo curtain and the like) to make paper.
Classification of paper
Mechanical paper
1. Printing paper includes newsprint, letterpress printing paper, offset paper, gravure printing paper, coated paper, book cover paper, sea newspaper, etc.
2. Writing paper includes writing paper, glossy paper and printing paper.
3. Drawing, drawing paper includes tracing paper, drawing and drawing paper.
4. Electrical insulating paper includes capacitor paper, telephone paper, cable paper and insulating paper.
5. Cigarette paper includes cigarette paper and cigarette holder paper.
6. Absorbent paper includes blotting paper, filter paper, steel paper base paper and parchment base paper.
7. Instrument paper includes typed telegraph paper tape, reel telegraph, punched card paper, etc.
8. Photosensitive paper includes photographic base paper and photosensitive base paper.
9. transfer paper base paper includes carbon paper base paper, typing wax paper base paper, etc.
10. industrial technical paper includes jacquard paper, sandpaper base paper, paper rope paper, moisture-proof base paper, corrugated base paper, etc.
1 1. Packaging paper includes cowhide packaging paper, straw pulp packaging paper, wood pulp packaging paper, waste paper packaging paper, reed pulp packaging paper, miscellaneous pulp packaging paper, plant parchment paper, imitation parchment paper, carton paper, match paper, paper bag, etc.
paperboard
1. Binding boards include gray waste boards, binding box boards, etc.
2. Box-making boards include straw board, white board, corrugated board and box board.
3. Electrical insulating cardboard includes electrical insulating cardboard, lightning conductive cardboard, etc.
4. Cardboard for industrial technology includes ticket board, kraft board, jacquard board, letter board, etc.
5. Building cardboard includes roof cardboard, wall cardboard and linoleum base paper.
6. Shoe-making cardboard includes heel cardboard, rag leather insole cardboard, etc.
According to the paper industry product catalog, China paper yearbook and paper industry standard system table.