Effect of long-fiber hardwood kraft pulp from Baccaurea ramiflora Lour. on handsheet properties of pulp blends

Abstract

The effect was investigated of long-fiber kraft pulp obtained from Baccaurea ramiflora Lour. on the drainability and strength properties of handsheets produced from its blends with either
short-fiber hardwood or long-fiber softwood kraft pulps. The B. ramiflora pulp had a wide fiber-length distribution, long fiber length (2.06 mm), high fiber coarseness (0.182 mg/m) and
high beatability due to its significantly higher fines content (25.5%), and moderate strength with a high tear index. Blending the long-fiber pulp with other long-fiber pulp caused a linear change in the freeness of the pulp blend. On the other hand, short-fiber and long-fiber blending resulted in a rapid decrease in the freeness of pulp blends for up to 70% low-freeness pulp, but a slower change was observed from 70% to 100%. The addition of the high-strength (softwood) pulp to the low-strength (hardwood) pulp or moderate-strength (B. ramiflora) pulp caused a rapid increase in the tensile and tear indices for up to 70% softwood content, but only a slight change upon greater blending up to 100%. While the results of the folding endurance tests were different to those for the tensile and tear indices, the burst index increased linearly. Adding moderate-strength pulp from B. ramiflora into low-strength pulp from hardwood resulted in slight changes in the tensile index, burst index and folding endurance of the pulp blends, while the tear index increased rapidly. The B. ramiflora pulp could be utilized in containers requiring high tear resistance, in high-softness tissue papers, in filter papers and in cement-based composites.