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Influence mechanism of paper mechanical properties: numerical simulation and experimental verification based on a fiber network

  • Hao Sun , Yaling Wang , Haojin Li , Lingjun Wei EMAIL logo , Yunfeng Zhu , Wanlu Zhang and Wei Wang
Published/Copyright: September 2, 2024
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Nordic Pulp & Paper Research Journal
From the journal Nordic Pulp & Paper Research Journal Volume 39 Issue 4

Abstract

Paper is a kind of renewable material that exists widely and has important application prospects. However, previous studies have mostly focused on the macromechanical properties of paper but lack micro theory based on paper fiber networks. We present a comprehensive experimental and computational study on the mechanical properties of fibers and fiber networks under the influence of microstructure. A beam-spring model was established based on a beam-fiber network to simulate the behavior of fiber networks. Simulations were performed to demonstrate the influence of fiber microstructural parameters such as fiber bond strength, stiffness, failure strength, size, and network density on mechanical features. Mechanical experiments verified that the fiber bond strength had a greater influence on the paper properties than did the fiber strength. This result is highly consistent with that of the model. All the simulations were validated by experimental measurements. Finally, we provided computational insights into the interfiber bond damage pattern with respect to different fiber microlevels and demonstrated that the proposed beam-spring model can be used to predict the response of fiber networks of paper materials. The above research can be used to optimize the formulation, process, and treatment of paper to meet specific application needs.

Keywords: beam-spring model; fiber network simulation; influencing factors; paper materials; strength of paper
Corresponding author: Lingjun Wei, Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Food Advanced Manufacturing Equipment Technology, School of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China, E-mail:

Funding source: National Key Research and Development Program

Award Identifier / Grant number: 2022YFD2100305

Funding source: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Food Advanced Manufacturing Equipment Technology

Award Identifier / Grant number: FMZ201905

  1. Research ethics: This work does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

  2. Author contributions: All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation was performed by Y.L. Wang and H.J. Li. Sample testing, data collection and model simulation were conducted by Y.L. Wang and W.L. Zhang. Simulation guidance was provided by Y.F. Zhu. The results analysis and summary were completed by H. Sun and L.J. Wei. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Y.L. Wang and H.J. Li. The revision of the manuscript was completed by Y.L. Wang and W.Wang. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript and read and approved the final manuscript.

  3. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

  4. Research funding: This work was supported by the Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Food Advanced Manufacturing Equipment Technology (FMZ201905) and the National Key Research and Development Program (2022YFD2100305).

  5. Data availability: The raw data can be obtained on request from the corresponding author.

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/npprj-2024-0021).

Received: 2024-03-28
Accepted: 2024-08-15
Published Online: 2024-09-02
Published in Print: 2024-12-17

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Chemical Pulping
  3. Evaluation of oxygen delignified fibers with high water absorbency, as a greener alternative to fully bleached fibers for tissue paper
  4. Effects of partial lignin extraction on rheological characteristics and combustion performance of high solids bamboo kraft black liquor
  5. A preliminary investigation of banana pseudo-stem (Musa cavendish) for pulp and paper production: morphology, chemical composition, FTIR, XRD and thermogravimetric analysis
  6. Sodium carbonate pulping of oil palm empty fruit bunches for paperboard production
  7. Mechanical Pulping
  8. Development of fibre properties in mill scale: high- and low consistency refining of thermomechanical pulp (part 2) – Importance of fibre curl
  9. Paper Technology
  10. Multi-objective optimization design of a circular core paper sandwich panel
  11. Paper Physics
  12. Effects of xylan-modified precipitated calcium carbonate filler on the properties of paper
  13. Influence mechanism of paper mechanical properties: numerical simulation and experimental verification based on a fiber network
  14. Enhancing the strength of tissue paper through pulp fractionation and stratified forming
  15. Paper Chemistry
  16. Effects of surfactants on the wettability of sodium propionate aqueous deacidification agent
  17. Coating
  18. Biobased nanocomposite coating of paper for packaging
  19. Printing
  20. Improving the lightfastness of paperboard prints with pearlescent pigments
  21. Packaging
  22. Preparation of environmentally friendly hydrophobic paper by coating method
  23. Recycling
  24. Hybrid solar drying of sludge from kraft pulp mills
  25. Chemical Technology/Modifications
  26. Effect of pre-hydrolysis on the dissolution of hardwood pulp in double salt ionic liquid
  27. Lignin
  28. Comparison of three different industrial lignin-based porous carbon electrodes for electrochemical applications
  29. UV–vis spectroscopy as a rapid method for evaluation of total phenolic hydroxyl structures in lignin
  30. Miscellaneous
  31. Paper fingerprint by forming fabric: analysis of periodic marks with 2D lab formation sensor and machine learning for forensic paper-identification
https://doi.org/10.1515/npprj-2024-0021
Keywords for this article
beam-spring model; fiber network simulation; influencing factors; paper materials; strength of paper

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Chemical Pulping
  3. Evaluation of oxygen delignified fibers with high water absorbency, as a greener alternative to fully bleached fibers for tissue paper
  4. Effects of partial lignin extraction on rheological characteristics and combustion performance of high solids bamboo kraft black liquor
  5. A preliminary investigation of banana pseudo-stem (Musa cavendish) for pulp and paper production: morphology, chemical composition, FTIR, XRD and thermogravimetric analysis
  6. Sodium carbonate pulping of oil palm empty fruit bunches for paperboard production
  7. Mechanical Pulping
  8. Development of fibre properties in mill scale: high- and low consistency refining of thermomechanical pulp (part 2) – Importance of fibre curl
  9. Paper Technology
  10. Multi-objective optimization design of a circular core paper sandwich panel
  11. Paper Physics
  12. Effects of xylan-modified precipitated calcium carbonate filler on the properties of paper
  13. Influence mechanism of paper mechanical properties: numerical simulation and experimental verification based on a fiber network
  14. Enhancing the strength of tissue paper through pulp fractionation and stratified forming
  15. Paper Chemistry
  16. Effects of surfactants on the wettability of sodium propionate aqueous deacidification agent
  17. Coating
  18. Biobased nanocomposite coating of paper for packaging
  19. Printing
  20. Improving the lightfastness of paperboard prints with pearlescent pigments
  21. Packaging
  22. Preparation of environmentally friendly hydrophobic paper by coating method
  23. Recycling
  24. Hybrid solar drying of sludge from kraft pulp mills
  25. Chemical Technology/Modifications
  26. Effect of pre-hydrolysis on the dissolution of hardwood pulp in double salt ionic liquid
  27. Lignin
  28. Comparison of three different industrial lignin-based porous carbon electrodes for electrochemical applications
  29. UV–vis spectroscopy as a rapid method for evaluation of total phenolic hydroxyl structures in lignin
  30. Miscellaneous
  31. Paper fingerprint by forming fabric: analysis of periodic marks with 2D lab formation sensor and machine learning for forensic paper-identification
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