Experiments Investigating the Local Paper Structure

The accurate characterization of paper structure may provide critical information for ideal selection of raw materials and papermaking processes as well as for predicting the behavior and the quality of final paper products. In this study, local paper structure and the relationship among the structural parameters, thickness, grammage, apparent density and surface roughness of various handsheet and commercial paper samples were evaluated by using recently developed methods. A new concept of surface roughness was also introduced. The results demonstrate that there is significant overestimation in the measured thickness when using the conventional caliper method that originates from the surface roughness and poor paper formation. A novel non-contact thickness tester, referred to as the twin laser profilometer(TLP), provided results that were not subject to these artifacts and thus provided the local intrinsic thickness and consequently the local intrinsic apparent density.