Abstract
We present a new laboratory apparatus designed to study the filtration of a fiber suspension in a parameter range close to that of the real papermaking process. An experimental procedure that combines index-of-refraction matching, high-speed imaging, and article Image Velocimetry (PIV) is used to measure glow and particles dynamics. In particular we presents results for: flow above a mesh similar to that used for paper forming; flow above and in the forming fiber network; evolution of the structure of the fiber network itself. Experiments are performed varying filtration velocity and fiber length. The results show that flow perturbations in the proximity of the mesh and the forming network are confined in a thin region and the height of this region are likely to scale with the pore size. Snapshot reveal qualitative difference between the networks formed by fibers of different lengths.
Download PDF