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Table 1. Structural thickness profiles for the unground and surface ground papers. The total length of each diagrams is 200 mm. The
diagrams display the thickness range from 0.05 to 0.23 mm.
Forming Concentration, % Unground paper Ground paper
0.55
1.03
The Z-test
The test piece is illustrated in Fig 3. The test pieces were
prepared using a lamination method, described by
Lucisano and Pikulik (2010). The adhesive method
involved lamination of the paper between thin plastic
foils. A Lamiart-3201 pouch laminator was used to
perform the lamination. A plastic foil was placed on both
sides of the tested paper. Each foil consisted of one 0.050
mm thick, stiff polyester base layer in the middle with a
high melting temperature and two 0.070 mm thick
ethylene vinyl acetate melting layers on each side with a
melting temperature of 78ºC. Additionally, a 15 g/m2
dummy paper was placed on the outside of each foil, to
provide backing for the subsequent gluing at a testing
speed regulated to give desired penetration of the melting Fig 5. The clip-on gauge arrangement.
layer into the paper. The line load used was set by the The loading-rate was chosen such that a load of 500 kPa
manufacturer and was not specifically determined. The was reached in 0,2 seconds, in accordance with ISO (ISO
melting layers of each foil melted and adhered to the 2007)" (ISO 2007).
paper test piece and to the dummy paper. By proper
choice of lamination speed it is possible to make the Nomenclature
melting layer to be fastened only to the outermost parts of The following nomenclature was used:
the paper with controlled penetration, Lucisano and Fig 6 shows a schematic drawing of the platens and test
Pikulik (2010).
piece. The structural thickness t s is defined by SCAN
Small paper samples were cut-out from the laminated
sheet, slightly larger than the metal platens. The dummy (2001). The melting layer thickness is the thickness
paper side of the foil was then fastened to the metal where the melting layer has penetrated the paper
platens, using a strong fast curing glue (Permabond structure. The effective thickness t e is the difference
105(C6) based on ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate). The curing of between the structural thickness and twice the melting
the glue lasted for 60 minutes to make sure that the layer thickness. This thickness was used in the
setting time was finished. After that time the edges were calculations of strain and elastic modulus.
trimmed to fit the size of the platens. The papers were
z-strength Z = tensile strength in the z-direction, the
laminated, conditioned and tested in 23ºC and 50% RH.
A schematic drawing of the testing apparatus is shown maximum force divided by the testing area (Pa).
in Fig 4. The rod was screwed onto the upper platen. z-energy at break WZEAB = energy absorption up to the
Successively, the lower metal platen was screwed onto maximum force (J/m2).
the load cell. These actions were performed without
z- fracture energy WZFE = energy absorption to cause a
subjecting the paper to undesired loading. The load from
the tensile tester was transferred from the lower to the complete delamination (J/m2).
upper pin by a point-to point contact. By this z-strain at break
arrangement, the load is transferred to the paper in a
z
straight way which makes the strain distribution over the z , [1]
paper surface as uniform as possible. An extensometer of te
clip-on type was fastened between the lower and the
upper platen, see Fig 5. This type of extensometer was where Z is the elongation at the maximum force and te
designed to perform well at the high loading rates used. is the effective thickness.
Nordic Pulp and Paper Research Journal Vol 27 no.2/2012 289
PAPER PHYSICS
Z-strength, kPa
2500
2000
1500 30 g/m2
1000
500
2x15=30 g/m2
0
0 5 10 15 20
Laminator speed, mm/s
Fig 8. The z- strength versus laminator speed for Formette Fig 9. The z-strength versus grammage for Formette Dynamique
Dynamique sheets of bleached dried pine kraft pulp. sheets of bleached dried pine kraft pulp.
Fig 10. The z-stress-elongation curves for Formette Dynamique sheets of bleached dried pine kraft pulp. Representative curves for
two grammage levels are shown. Left curve 60 g/m2. Right curve 120 g/m2.
Table 2. The effect of surface unevenness of the FEX papers concluded that surface grinding was not necessary for
of kraft pulp on the z-strength. obtaining reliable data according to these test methods.
The mentioned concern of Van den Akker seemed not to
Forming Original Surface Difference, be justified (Van den Akker 1952).
concentration paper, ground paper, %
kPa kPa Material 1. Sheets of different grammage
0.55% 739 ± 8 641 ± 29 -13 Formette Dynamique sheets of bleached dried pine kraft
1.03% 795 ± 34 705 ± 34 -11 were tested with a laminator speed of 17 m/s. The results
or had quickly been reconditioned. The consequence was are given in Fig 9. The results show that the z-strength
that the papers could be tested soon after the gluing was independent of grammage down to a grammage of
procedure. 30 g/m2, which was the targeted lower grammage.
An important feature with the present method was that
Effect of surface unevenness stable stress-elongation curves were possible to obtain.
The effect of surface unevenness was investigated for Representative curves for the 60 g/m2 paper (left curve)
Material 3, FEX papers of kraft pulp. The papers were and 120 g/m2 paper (right curve) are shown in Fig 10.
tested in their original shape and after surface grinding to Note specifically that the z-energy at break up to the
reduce thickness variations. maximum stress is only a fraction of the total z-fracture
The results of the investigation are given in Table 2. energy.
The grinding did not improve the strength. A slight The z-fracture energy, the area under the z- stress-
decrease was in fact found. It is possible that grinding elongation curve is shown in Fig 11. The z-fracture
damaged the surface and that the layer was not able to energy is increasing with increasing grammage.
anchor well in the surface structure in this test. It was
Z-strength, kPa
2000
Grammage
1500
1x30=30 g/m2
1x60=60 g/m2
1000
2x30=60 g/m2 2x60=120 g/m2
500
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Grammage, g/m2
200 10
8
150
Adhesive penetration = 30 g/m2
6
100
4
50
2
0 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
2
Grammage, g/m Grammage, g/m2
Fig 13. The z- strength versus grammage for TMP sheets. Fig 14. The z-modulus versus grammage for TMP sheets
evaluated with two different assumptions of adhesive
Material 2. Rapid Köhten sheets of bleached dried penetration.
pine kraft
Papers of different grammage, manufactured according to fracture energy was straight forward, Figs 13 to 16. The
the Rapid-Köhten method were tested. The results are strength was independent of grammage, which indicate a
given in Fig 12. For these strong Rapid Köhten papers, it rather uniform structure. The z-fracture energy increased
was difficult to obtain sufficient adhesion between the linearly with grammage with an intercept on the y-axis.
paper and the laminate at the recommended speed of Any interpretation of this intercept, except the obvious
17 mm/s. The speed was therefore reduced to 13 mm/s. fact that it takes certain energy to break the paper even at
a small grammage, is not at hand at this stage of the
The consequence was that the 1x30 g/m2 sheet got
research.
somewhat higher values than the other sheets due to
The z-strain at break and z-modulus were evaluated
penetration of the melting layer. The z-strength was
under two different assumptions regarding the thickness
however independent of grammage for the remaining
to be used in the calculations, Eq 1 and Eq 2. In one case
sheets and further more equal for the couched sheets and
it was assumed that no adhesive penetration took place
the sheets formed in one operation.
whereas in the next case it was assumed that the
Material 6. TMP sheets at different grammage penetration in fact was equal to the thickness of a paper
This set of papers were a series of different grammage, of 30 g/m2, which was given by the calibration procedure.
previously manufactured for a paper by Girlanda and The data showed that the properties were essentially
Fellers (2007). The papers were made from a TMP pulp, independent of grammage with the 30 g/m2 penetration
CSF of 210 ml and a structural density of 484 kg/m3. In assumption.
this set of papers, the grammage range was higher than in Material 7. Bank note paper
the previous trials and this in combination with a
A bank note paper was chosen in this trial because of its
moderate strength made it possible to evaluate the desired
extremely high z-strength. In this trial, we were forced to
mechanical properties.
use a low laminator speed of 5.3 mm/s to ensure a
The stress-strain curves were stable and the evaluation
sufficient adhesion. The strength of two papers tested was
of z-strength, z-elastic modulus, z-strain at break and z-
9
Adhesive penetration = 30 g/m2 120
8
7 100
6
80
5
4
Adhesive penetration = 0 g/m2 60
3
40
2
20
1
0 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
2
Grammage, g/m Grammage, g/m2
speed for a newsprint paper with a grammage around The z-modulus, z-strain at break and z-fracture energy
40 g/m2. was possible to evaluate.
This investigation dealt with z-strength values ranging The z-strength, z-modulus and z-strain at break were
from small to extremely high values. For practical independent of grammage, whereas the z-fracture
reasons it was considered too elaborate to make energy to separate the paper completely was
handsheets of different grammage for all the pulps and increasing with grammage.
perform lamination studies of different speeds in order to The z-strength was equal for sheets formed in one
find the adhesive layer penetration for each pulp and operation and two sheets couched together.
beating level. A more pragmatic approach was taken by The newly developed ISO method gave comparable
assuming that the penetration was 2 x 20 g/m2. The true results as the z-test at least for moderately strong
penetration would be higher than 2 x 15 g/m2 but less papers.
than 2 x 20 g/m2. In this way the error in the evaluated
elastic modulus and strain at break for the 150 g/m2
Acknowledgements
papers, was estimated to be around half the difference in
grammage, i.e. 5/150 = 3%. The financial contribution and enthusiastic support from
Due to the short exposure for heat in the lamination Aracruz, Billerud, Eka Chemicals, Holmen, Korsnäs, Metsä-
procedure, the paper needed no excessive conditioning Botnia, Mondi Packaging Paper, M-real, Peterson, Stora Enso,
time beyond the curing time for the glue. The stiffness of Södra, Tetra Pak and Voith is greatly appreciated.
the system made it possible to achieve stable crack
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