Strength Property Improvement of OCC-based Paper by Chemical and Mechanical Treatments(I)

골판지 고지의 물리화학적 처리에 의한 강도 향상(제 1 보)

To improve the physical properties of OCC (Old Corrugated Container) fibers, we used the mechanical pre-treatment on the fibers before refining . The mechanical action in the Hobart mixer induced high shear and compression on the fibers, which resulted in changes of fiber internal structure, and microcompressions on the surface of the fibers. We evaluated the amount of mechanical treatment on the fibers by fiber curl index for convenience. Four different refining techniques were applied to the pre-treated fibers (valley beater, Kady mill, PFI mill, and Impact refining) to find the best combination of the pre-treatment and the refining methods. Conclusions were summarized as followed. 1. Mechanical pre-treatment in Hobart mixer for more than 1 hour caused the increase of curl index of OCC fibers, and increased breaking length, burst index, and tear index the handsheets more than 10 % in this experiment. 2. Kady mill and PFI mill refining were effective in keeping fiber length from shortening Kady mill and Valley beater refining straightened out the fiber curls, and reduced the curl index. 3. Valley beating reduced fiber length very fast and generated fines more than other refining methods. 4. To increase breaking length and burst strength while keeping tear strength , combination of mechanical pre-treatment and Valley beating were most effective.