Review of Surface Application
Review of Surface Application
In Fundamentals of Papermaking,
Trans. of the IXth Fund. Res. Symp. Cambridge, 1989, (C.F. Baker & V. Punton, eds), pp 833–870,
FRC, Manchester, 2018. DOI: 10.15376/frc.1989.2.833.
ABSTRACT
Surface application has gained more and more popularity as
a means of increasing the quality of paper and board . In its
broadest sense, surface application covers everything from sur
face-sizing to extrusion coating, but this review will concen-
trate on surface sizing and pigment coating, i .e . processes
taking place as an integrated part of the paper manufacture .
Because the goals of the surface treatmant are different and
depending on the quality of the paper desired, the review will
cover our present fundamental understanding of the processes
themselves . The presentation will start with a description of
the water or liquid penetration in paper . Then the mechanics of
various blade coating processes and the liquid transport it
blade coaters will be explained . Last will come a presentation
of the size press and new equipment for surface sizing .
83 4
INTRODUCTION
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A. Applicators
1 . Roll applicators
2 . Contact applicators
- jet applicators
- fountain applicators
- short dwell applicators
- puddle applicators
B. Dwell time
C. Blade configuration
1 . Bevelled blades
2 . Low angle blades
The main forces are the hydrodynamic force and the impulse
force . In this process the blade is not in contact with the
paper, and the coat weight is regulated with the blade angle .
The mechanical force on the blade is high . If the blade angle
is decreased, the hydrodynamic (and impulse) force increase,
and the blade bend out from the surface until a new equilibrium
is reached. The situation is stable, because there is two large
forces counteracting each other . The system allows for high
coat weights, as well as coating of smooth substrates, some-
thing which is impossible with the bevelled blade conter, which
runs unstable when the blade no longer is in contact with the
paper .
855
The water transport in the blade coating process
If the information above is put into its context, the
following veiw can be put forward for the different coating
processes :
a . Flooded nip inverted blade (20 m/s)
The last part .of the process is the pressure pulse under
the blade, Fig 17 . When the liquid is under the blade, the
amount is already determined by processes ahead of the blade
tip, meaning that the pressure pulse under the blade has no
influence on the coat weight . There'is however a forced tran-
sport of the available liquid into the sheet . This is especial-
ly important for pigment coating, as it can cause a pressure
filtration and an increase in solids . Because of a building up
of a filter cake at the applicator roll, which determines the
flow losses, the transport -rate will be relatively low .
fore good .
858
THE SIZE PRESS AND OTHER ROLL APPLICATORS
When the paper comes into the nip there is first an ab-
sorption of size . In the shear region, the paper is compressed
and size solution is pressed into the paper because of the
external pressure . In the outgoing part of the nip film split-
ting and cavitation fenomenons dominate . On the basis of expe-
riments on a laboratory size press, Hoyland (59) has also
derived an equation to explain the pick-up in a size press:
(5)
(
~s)n
864
where PU is the wet pick-up of surface size, K1 , K , and K3 are
constants, S is the machine speed, and n is a consiant .
The three terms in the equation are called the base paper
(immobilisation) term, the absorption term, and the hydrodyna-
mic term . The base paper term determines the immobilisation of
the size which takes place because of the surface roughness of
the paper or effects caused by the compression and expansion of
the paper when it passes the nip . This term is completely
dependent on the base paper .
The absorption term is determined by the amount of surface
size which is absorbed into the paper before it goes into the
nip . This term was derived from the Vlashburn equation . The
hydrodynamic term gives an expression of the amount of size
which is remaining on the surface . of ter the passing of the nip.
Hoyland et al .( 60) are of the opinion that most of the surface
size uptake below 2,5 m/s is dependent on the characteristics
of the paper, after which the hydrodynamic term then will
increase in importance . Hein, ríermann and Schuster (61 ) have
also derived an expression for the hydrodynamic pressure, Fig .
24 .
[Pressure sorption] = k, - t
[Hydrodynamic uptake] = k 2 - P . 77 , t
where k1 and k2 are constants, R roll diameter and P the linear pressure
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Prof . D .E . Eklund
Prof . D .E . Eklund
Dr . A . Nissan, Westvaco
My colleague and friend George Batten (1) took the simplest case
for checking the Washburn equation which was a straight circular
section glass tube with zero contact angle, and worked out the
theory of what would happen if you take that tube and just put it
vertically touching the surface of water . In this case, many
things can happen . Firstly, the velocity must be uniform at the
beginning because there is no boundary layer . To reach this
velocity, you need one kinetic energy head (rho times v squared)
and you have to add this to the Washburn equation . But then the
boundary layer begins to build up . The length of the boundary
layer is an inverse function of the Reynold's number as is the
time, therefore the slower the flow, the longer it will take for
the Washburn equation to come into effect . You can calculate this
from boundary layer theory . Furthermore, between the start and
where Washburn comes in, the velocity distribution across the tube
changes from uniform to parabolic . The kinetic energy average for
a parabolic distribution is two heads of kinetic energy, not one,
therefore you have to add another kinetic energy head before you
can start to use Washburn . There are also some losses, about 0 .14
v 2 , for the change of velocities and the drag in the boundary
layer . Furthermore, there is something which has been observed,
but never taken into account . Workers on flow in capillaries
noticed that the meniscus does not change it's shape and in glass
it curves up, but a parabolic distribution should have a shape
which is the opposite . The velocity should be higher in the
centre . Therefore one kinetic energy head is being destroyed at
the outlet as well, we have to add another kinetic energy head .
The contact angle at the beginning is geometrical, i .e . 90
degrees, and it takes time for it to change from this to zero, we
presume that time to be the same as the time for the boundary
layer to grow, because both are molecular phenomena . If you add
up all these terms, you get two things . One you can fit very
accurate experiments on water in glass capillary tubes to these
equations, but not to Washburn alone . In the end, it fits
Washburn, but for point one or two of a second or so, there are
many terms even for imbibition of water in glass tubes and we have
not considered cellulose nor absorption nor swelling nor diffusion
or any of the other factors that come in paper .
Prof . D .E . Eklund
What happens is that you fill up the whole surface so that the
water can only move in one direction, not in two directions as far
as I can tell, at least on a macro scale . Henry Kent's paper will
tell us that you have transport in two dimensions in a micro
scale . I believe that molecular interactions explain the results
we obtained . These molecular interactions ahead of the water
front are often the rate determining factor, and they give a
linear relationship between penetration and time .