Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books
A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology

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absorbency

The degree of receptivity of a material to liquids, either in liquid or gaseous form. Measures of absorbency include: 1) the time a material requires to absorb a specific volume of liquid; 2) the rate of rise of a liquid along a vertical strip of a material, the end of which is immersed in the liquid; 3) the total area of a specimen wetted by the liquid within a specified time period; and 4) the total absorptive capacity of a material expressed as the quantity of liquid absorbed by a completely saturated specimen. Absorbency is of importance because paper, for example, generally has the ability to absorb or give up moisture depending upon the wetness, i.e., RELATIVE HUMIDITY , of the atmosphere around it, and, because the effect is not uniform in all directions. Because of the latter, the MACHINE DIRECTION of the paper used in producing books becomes an important factor in both printing and bookbinding. See also: COCKLE (1) ; WARPING .

(17 , 72 , 144 )




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