Abstract
Refining is very important process of fibers treatment for proper paper properties. An extent of refining is usually measured by freeness, although freeness gives complicated meanings. One of a direct way of studying the refining effects on pulp fibers is making photomicrographs of beaten fibers. The conventional microscopy like light microscopy(LM) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM) require to preserve the wet structure of pulp fibers morphologically since most of papermaking process is carried out almost entirely in water. Recently developed microscopy, especially confocal laser scanning microscopy(CLSM), offers the possibility of examining fully hydrated pulp fibers. Cross-sectional images of wet pulp fibers are also generated using optical sectioning by CLSM and image analysis in order to verify and quantify the extent of fiber wall swelling indicating the internal fibrillation. At low beating load such as 2.5 kgf, in the same freeness, breaking length is higher than that of high beating load such as 5.6 kgf. fiber wall thickness at low beating load is greater than that at high beating load. This result is accounted for the fact that internal fibrillation in the low beating load was high.