Wet Fibre Surface – Does it Behave Like a Gel?

Abstract

The physico-chemical characteristics of wet fibre surfaces and their role in fibre bonding and paper properties have been under debate and research for decades. The gel-likeness of the fibre surfaces has been addressed in many studies but has not been explicitly demonstrated. In this study, the structure of wet beaten kraft pulp fibre surface and its similarity with microfibrillated cellulose (CMF) was shown using helium ion microscopy (HIM) imaging. Beaten kraft fibres and CMF were dried using two mild drying methods to preserve the delicate fibrillated structures. The fibre surface had a strong resemblance with gel-like CMF material. The amount of external fibrillation varied along the fibre length and was often shown to extend tens of micrometers from the fibre surface. The gel-like behaviour of wet fibrillated material was demonstrated using rheological tests. The examined CMF and CNF samples with solids contents of 1.97% and 1.06%, respectively, showed gel-like behaviour. A low gelling point suggests that fibrillated fibre surfaces have the ability to transfer forces at very low consistencies, and that the ability increases as a power function of the solids content. This is assumed to play a remarkable role in increasing inter-fibre adhesion and in transmitting inter-fibre forces within consolidating webs, whether arising from external tensions or internal drying stresses.