Many attempts to combine the bulk-generating benefit of throughdrying with the dewatering efficiency of wet-pressing have been disclosed over the past 20 years, but instead of delivering the best of both technologies, what often resulted were processes that fell short of their goal, not only regarding the rate of production and the energy costs for dewatering, but also regarding product characteristics. An example of a promising process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,287,426 issued Sep. 11, 2001 to Edwards et al., which is herein incorporated by reference. This process utilizes a high pressure dewatering nip formed between a felt and a smooth impermeable belt to increase the wet web consistency to about 35 to 48 percent. The dewatered web is then transferred to a “web-structuring” woven fabric with the aid of a vacuum roll to impart texture to the web prior to drying. While the process of Edwards et al. is effective for relatively high basis weight webs, it is not well suited for processing light weight tissue webs at high speeds desirable for commercial applications because of the difficulty associated with transferring low basis weight wet webs, which have virtually no strength, from the smooth belt to the web-structuring fabric. In addition, it has been found that the web-structuring fabrics disclosed for use in such a process result in a tissue that is gritty feeling with insufficient softness.
Therefore there is a need for an improved soft, high bulk, lightweight wet-pressed tissue.
It has now been discovered that a unique wet-pressed tissue sheets can be made using the process of Edwards et al., for example, by using special texturizing fabrics. The resulting tissue sheet can be made at high speeds and exhibits nearly all of the bulk and softness of a throughdried product while also being aesthetically pleasing. The tissue sheets are characterized by widely spaced apart continuous “ridges of softness” that are imparted to the sheets by the texturizing fabric design. When the special texturizing fabrics are used in combination with other process modifications, such as the use of certain types of impermeable belts in combination with other processing conditions as described herein, tissue sheets of this invention having a low basis weight can be made at relatively high speeds. However, the tissue sheets of this invention having a low basis weight can also be made using the unmodified process of Edwards et al, albeit at lower speeds.
Hence in one aspect, the invention resides in a creped, wet-pressed tissue sheet of papermaking fibers having a machine direction and a cross-machine direction, said tissue sheet having continuous undulating valleys separated by continuous mono-planar macro-ridges (ridges of softness) running in the machine direction of the sheet, the macro-ridges being of a lower fiber density relative to the fiber density of the undulating valleys.
In another aspect, the invention resides in a creped, wet-pressed tissue sheet of papermaking fibers having a machine direction and a cross-machine direction, said tissue sheet having continuous undulating valleys of mini-ridges separated by continuous mono-planar macro-ridges running in the machine direction of the sheet, wherein the ratio of the average thickness of the macro-ridges to the average thickness of the mini-ridges is about 1.5 or greater. For purposes herein, the “thickness” is the shortest distance from one side of the structure in question to the other. In this aspect, advantageously, the fiber density of the mono-planar ridges can be lower than the fiber density of the undulating valleys.
The alternating macro-ridges and valleys of the tissue sheets of this invention are imparted to the sheet by the three-dimensional surface contour of the texturizing fabric. During processing, the tissue sheet is densified uniformly by an upstream wet-pressing water removal step, after which the sheet is molded during transfer onto the topographical texturizing fabric, thereby creating the precursors to the final macro-ridges and valleys. The macro-ridges, which protrude from the side of the sheet that does not contact the texturizing fabric, become further densified as the sheet, supported by the texturizing fabric, is pressed against the surface of the dryer and adhered to the dryer surface. Because the valleys in the sheet are recessed relative to the ridges, they are further densified to a lesser degree, if at all, when the sheet is pressed against the dryer surface. Thereafter, when the web is creped, “mini-ridges” having crests running in the cross-machine direction of the sheet are created within the valleys. These mini-ridges create undulations in the machine direction of the sheet and bridge the distance between adjacent machine direction macro-ridges. The machine direction macro-ridges, which are strongly adhered to the surface of the dryer, are more affected by creping. As a consequence, the macro-ridge regions become more highly debonded, thicker and less dense than the valley regions. Because the adhesion to the dryer is substantially continuous along the macro-ridge regions, the creping (debonding) is relatively uniform and the sheet surface topography within the ridges remains substantially mono-planar when viewed in cross-section. The dimensions of the various structural features of the tissue sheets of this invention can readily be measured using scaled photographs, such as those shown herein, or by surface profilometry, which is well known in the art. Because the variations in basis weight are minimal throughout the sheets when they are formed, the thickness of the various sheet structures is proportional to the fiber density.
This structure is different from traditional through-air-dried tissue, where the regions away from the dryer surface are not compressively densified and are thus of a similar or even lower density than the region of tissue next to the dryer.
As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the term “running in the machine direction” of the sheet means that the macro-ridges and valleys can be oriented at an angle of from 0 to about ±30 degrees relative to the true machine direction (0 degrees) of the sheet. The macro-ridges are substantially continuous and not discrete. Accordingly, the alignment or orientation of the macro-ridges and valleys relative to the machine direction of the sheet can be from 0 to about ±30 degrees, more specifically from 0 to about ±15 degrees, more specifically from 0 to about ±10 degrees, more specifically from about 0 to about ±5 degrees and still more specifically the alignment can be parallel to the machine direction (0 degrees). Furthermore, the alignment or orientation relative to the machine direction can be from about ±5 to about ±15 degrees and still more specifically from about ±10 to about ±15 degrees. The ridges can be straight or wavy to improve the aesthetic appearance of the tissue sheet. For wavy or otherwise back-and-forth angled ridges, the alignment of the ridge is determined as an overall average direction.
The ratio of the average thickness of the macro-ridges to the average thickness of the mini-ridges within the valley regions can be about 1.5 or greater, more specifically from about 1.5 to about 6, more specifically from about 1.5 to about 5, more specifically from about 1.5 to about 4, more specifically from about 1.5 to about 3, and still more specifically from about 2 to about 3.
The width of the machine direction macro-ridges can be less than the width of the valleys in order to provide aesthetics to the tissue structure. The width of the machine direction macro-ridges can also be greater than the width of the valleys in order to improve drying efficiency and provide larger ridges of softness. More specifically, the width of the macro-ridges can be from about 0.5 to about 1.5 millimeters, more specifically from about 0.75 to about 1.25 millimeters, and still more specifically about 1 millimeter. The cross-machine direction spacing of the macro-ridges, as measured peak-to-peak, can be from about 0.5 to about 4 millimeters, more specifically from about 1 to about 3.5 millimeters, and still more specifically from about 1.5 to about 2.5 millimeters.
The width of the valleys, as measured in the cross-machine direction of the sheet, can be from about 0.5 to about 2.5 millimeters, more specifically from about 0.5 to about 2 millimeters, and still more specifically from about 1 to about 2 millimeters.
The size and spacing of the mini-ridges will depend upon a combination of the texturizing fabric design and creping conditions. In general, the machine direction spacing of the mini-ridges, as measured peak-to-peak, can be from about 0.2 to about 1 millimeter, more specifically from about 0.3 to about 0.8 millimeter, and still more specifically from about 0.4 to about 0.6 millimeter. The height of the mini-ridges, as measured from the bottom of the valley to the peak of the mini-ridge, can be from about 0.05 to about 0.5 millimeter, more specifically from about 0.1 to about 0.4 millimeter, and still more specifically from about 0.1 to about 0.3 millimeter.
The finished basis weight of the tissue sheets of this invention can be about 40 grams or less per square meter, more specifically from about 10 to about 40 grams per square meter (gsm), more specifically from about 10 to about 30 gsm and still more specifically from about 15 to about 20 gsm. The fibers which make up the tissue sheets can be any papermaking fiber known in the art, particularly cellulose fibers, such as hardwood and softwood fibers.
The “bulk” of the tissue sheets of this invention can be about 10 cubic centimeters or greater per gram of fiber, more specifically from about 10 to about 20 cubic centimeters per gram of fiber (cc/g). As used herein, a “tissue sheet” is a single ply of tissue, as opposed to a multi-ply product.
As used herein, “bulk” is calculated as the quotient of the overall sheet caliper under load (hereinafter defined) of a tissue sheet, expressed in microns, divided by the dry basis weight, expressed in grams per square meter. The resulting sheet bulk is expressed in cubic centimeters per gram. More specifically, the tissue overall sheet caliper is the representative thickness of a single tissue sheet measured in accordance with TAPPI test methods T402 “Standard Conditioning and Testing Atmosphere For Paper, Board, Pulp Handsheets and Related Products” and T411 om-89 “Thickness (caliper) of Paper, Paperboard, and Combined Board” with Note 3 for stacked sheets. The micrometer used for carrying out T411 om-89 is an Emveco 200-A Tissue Caliper Tester available from Emveco, Inc., Newberg, Oreg. The micrometer has a load of 2 kilo-Pascals, a pressure foot area of 2500 square millimeters, a pressure foot diameter of 56.42 millimeters, a dwell time of 3 seconds and a lowering rate of 0.8 millimeters per second.
As used herein, the “machine direction (MD) tensile strength” is the peak load per 3 inches of sample width when a sample is pulled to rupture in the machine direction. Similarly, the “cross-machine direction (CD) tensile strength” is the peak load per 3 inches of sample width when a sample is pulled to rupture in the cross-machine direction. The percent elongation of the sample prior to breaking is the “stretch”.
The procedure for measuring tensile strength and stretch is as follows. Samples for tensile strength testing are prepared by cutting a 3 inches (76.2 mm) wide by 5 inches (127 mm) long strip in either the machine direction (MD) or cross-machine direction (CD) orientation using a JDC Precision Sample Cutter (Thwing-Albert Instrument Company, Philadelphia, Pa., Model No. JDC 3-10, Serial No. 37333). The instrument used for measuring tensile strengths is an MTS Systems Sintech 11 S, Serial No. 6233. The data acquisition software is MTS TestWorks® for Windows Ver. 3.10 (MTS Systems Corp., Research Triangle Park, NC). The load cell is selected from either a 50 Newton or 100 Newton maximum, depending on the strength of the sample being tested, such that the majority of peak load values fall between 10-90% of the load cell's full scale value. The gauge length between jaws is 4+/−0.04 inches (101.6+/−1 mm). The jaws are operated using pneumatic-action and are rubber coated. The minimum grip face width is 3 inches (76.2 mm), and the approximate height of a jaw is 0.5 inches (12.7 mm). The crosshead speed is 10+/−0.4 inches/min (254+/−1 mm/min), and the break sensitivity is set at 65%. The sample is placed in the jaws of the instrument, centered both vertically and horizontally. The test is then started and ends when the specimen breaks. The peak load is recorded as either the “MD tensile strength” or the “CD tensile strength” of the specimen depending on direction of the sample being tested. At least six (6) representative specimens are tested for each product or sheet, taken “as is”, and the arithmetic average of all individual specimen tests is either the MD or CD tensile strength for the product or sheet.
The method used to prepare the microphotographs of the tissue thickness profiles in
The non-contacting surface profilometry method used to create the three-dimensional representation of the dryer-contacting side of the tissue in
The three-dimensional surface profilometry maps can be exported from MicroProf in a unified data file format for analysis with surface topography software TalyMap Universal (ver 3.1.10, available from Taylor-Hobson Precision Ltd., Leicester, England). The software utilizes the Mountains® technology metrology software platform (www.digitalsurf.fr) to allow a user to import various profiles and then execute different operators (mathematical transformations) or studies (graphical representations or numeric calculations) on the profiles and present them in a format suitable for desktop publishing.
Within the TalyMap software, operators utilized for this work include thresholding, which is an artificial truncation of the profile at a given altitudes, and filtering. Thresholding cleans up the image, removing individual fibers or surface dust and adjusts the ranges of the depths recorded. A Gaussian filter with a 0.2 mm cut-off is applied to further smooth the surface, averaging across 10 data points, and remove individual fibers by removal of local roughness. This yields the “surface profilometry” profile shown in
In the interests of brevity and conciseness, any ranges of values set forth in this specification are to be construed as written description support for claims reciting any sub-ranges having endpoints which are whole number (or like number) values within the specified range in question. By way of a hypothetical illustrative example, a disclosure in this specification of a range of from 1 to 5 shall be considered to support claims to any of the following sub-ranges: 1-4; 1-3; 1-2; 2-5; 24; 2-3; 3-5; 3-4; and 4-5. Similarly, a disclosure in this specification of a range of from 0.1 to 0.5 shall be considered to support claims to any of the following sub-ranges: 0.1-0.4; 0.1-0.3; 0.1-0.2; 0.2-0.5; 0.2-0.4; 0.2-0.3; 0.3-0.5; 0.3-0.4; and 0.4-0.5.
The invention will now be further described with reference to the drawings. Unless otherwise stated, like reference numbers in the various figures represent like features.
Referring to
Shown is a conventional crescent former, although any standard wet former can be used. More specifically, a headbox 7 deposits an aqueous suspension of papermaking fibers between a forming fabric 10 and a felt 9 as they partially wrap forming roll 8. The forming fabric is guided by guide rolls 12. As used herein, a “felt” is an absorbent papermaking fabric designed to absorb water and remove it from a tissue web. Papermaking felts of various designs are well known in the art.
The newly-formed web is carried by the felt to the dewatering pressure nip formed between suction roll 14, particle belt 16 and press roll 19. In the pressure nip, the tissue web is dewatered to a consistency of from about 30 percent or greater, more specifically about 40 percent or greater, more specifically from about 40 to about 50 percent, and still more specifically from about 45 to about 50 percent as it is compressed between the felt and the impermeable particle belt 16. As used herein and well understood in the art, “consistency” refers to the bone dry weight percent of the web based on fiber. The level of compression applied to the wet web to accomplish dewatering can advantageously be higher when producing light weight tissue webs in accordance with this invention.
As used herein, the “particle belt” is a water impermeable, or substantially water impermeable, transfer belt having many small holes and bumps in the otherwise smooth surface, the holes being formed from dislodged particles or gas bubbles previously embedded in the belt material when the belt is made. The size and distribution of the holes can be varied, but it is believed that the steep sidewall angles and size of these small holes prevents complete wetting of the belt surface because liquid water cannot enter them (similar physics to the Lotus leaf). The presence of the holes also brings entrained air in between the surface of the belt and the wet web. The presence of air or vapor aids in the break-up of the water film between the web and the surface of the belt and thereby reduces the level of adhesion between the web and the belt surface. In addition, a particle belt is not susceptible to the wear problems associated with a grooved belt because new holes are created as particles are uncovered and shed as the old holes are worn away. Examples of such particle belts are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,124 issued Mar. 29, 1994 to Eklund et al. and entitled “Transfer Belt in a Press Nip Closed Draw Transfer”, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Upon exiting the press nip, the sheet stays with the impermeable particle belt and subsequently transferred to a texturizing fabric 22 with the aid of a vacuum roll 23 containing a vacuum slot 41. Press nip tension can be adjusted by the position of roll 18. An optional molding box 25 can be used to provide additional molding of the web to the texturizing fabric.
As used herein, a “texturizing fabric” is a three-dimensional papermaking fabric, particularly a woven papermaking fabric, which has a topography that can form the ridges and valleys in the tissue sheet as described above when the dewatered sheet is molded to conform to its surface. More particularly, a texturizing fabric is a woven papermaking fabric having a textured sheet contacting surface with substantially continuous machine-direction ripples separated by valleys, the ripples being formed of multiple warp strands grouped together and supported by multiple shute strands of one or more diameters; wherein the width of ripples is from about 1 to about 5 millimeters, more specifically from about 1.3 to about 3 millimeters, and still more specifically from about 1.9 to about 2.4 millimeters. The frequency of occurrence of the ripples in the cross-machine direction of the fabric is from about 0.5 to about 8 per centimeter, more specifically from about 3.2 to about 7.9, still more specifically from about 4.2 to about 5.3 per centimeter. The rippled channel depth, which is the z-directional distance between the top plane of the fabric and the lowest visible fabric knuckle that the tissue web may contact, can be from about 0.2 to about 1.6 millimeters, more specifically from about 0.7 to about 1.1 millimeters, and still more specifically from about 0.8 to about 1 millimeter. For purposes herein, a “knuckle” is a structure formed by overlapping warp and shute strands. Those skilled in the papermaking fabric arts will appreciate that variations from the illustrated fabrics can be used achieve the desired topography and web fiber support.
The level of vacuum used to effect the transfer of the tissue web from the particle belt to the texturizing fabric will depend upon the nature of the texturizing fabric. The vacuum at the pick-up (vacuum transfer roll) plays a much more important role for transferring light weight tissue webs from the transfer belt to the texturizing fabric than it does for heavier paper grades. Because the wet web tensile strength is so low, the transfer must be complete before the belt and fabric separate—otherwise the web will be damaged. On the other hand, for heavier weight paper webs there is sufficient wet strength to accomplish the transfer, even over a short micro-draw, with modest vacuum (20 kPa). For light weight tissue webs, the applied vacuum needs to be much stronger in order to cause the vapor beneath the tissue to expand rapidly and push the web away from the belt and transfer the web to the fabric prior to fabric separation. On the other hand, the vacuum cannot be so strong as to cause pinholes in the sheet after transfer.
The transfer of the web to the texturizing fabric can include a “rush” transfer or a “draw” transfer. Depending upon the nature of the texturizing fabric, rush transfer can aid in creating higher sheet caliper. When used, the level of rush transfer can be about 5 percent or less.
While supported by the texturizing fabric, the web is transferred to the surface of a Yankee dryer 27 via press roll 24, after which the web is dried and creped with a doctor blade 21. Also shown is the Yankee dryer hood 30 and the creping adhesive spray applicator 31. The resulting creped web 32 is thereafter rolled into a parent roll (not shown) and converted as desired to the final product form and packaged.
In carrying out the foregoing method on a continuous commercial basis, fabric cleaning can be particularly advantageous, particularly using a method which leaves a minimal amount of water on the fabric (about 3 gsm or less). Suitable fabric cleaning methods include air jets, thermal cleaning, coated fabrics which clean easier, and high pressure water jets.
Tissue sheets in accordance with this invention as illustrated in
The tissue sheet was converted into 2-ply bath tissue with calendaring and exhibited good softness.
A tissue sheet was made generally as described in Example 1, except that the paper machine speed at the Yankee dryer was 1000 m/min and the basis weight was targeted for a 1-ply finished product. The dryer basis weight was 22.0 gsm, and the vacuum level supplied to the inside of the vacuum roll was 40 kPa. The texturizing fabric was of a style similar to that in
The physical properties of the resulting tissue sheet were as follows:
A tissue sheet was made generally as described in Example 1, except that the paper machine speed at the Yankee dryer was 1000 m/min and the texturizing fabric was of a style similar to
The physical properties of the resulting tissue sheet were as follows:
A tissue sheet was made generally as described in Example 1, except that the paper machine speed at the Yankee dryer was 600 m/min. The dryer basis weight was 14.5 gsm. There was a 5% rush transfer at the time of the transfer of the web to the fabric.
The physical properties of the resulting tissue sheet were as follows:
The basesheet was then converted into a 2-ply roll of bath tissue by plying the basesheet with another roll of similar properties, with the fabric facing side of the basesheets facing each other in the final product. The 2-ply product was calendered with steel rollers spaced apart by 635 micron (0.025 inch) and wound onto a 43 mm diameter core. This product was preferred over existing commercial bath tissue product in consumer testing. The resulting physical properties of the finished product were as follows:
It will be appreciated that the foregoing examples, given for purposes of illustration, are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention, which is defined by the following claims and all equivalents thereto.
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