GUIDELINES FOR CHOOSING BEST PAPER TOWEL

GUIDELINES FOR CHOOSING BEST PAPER TOWEL

There are different types of paper such as Printing and Writing Papers, Tissue, Newsprint, Containerboard, Kraft Paper, and Paperboard. Paper towels are under the category of tissue paper. After the toilet paper, it is the most purchased tissue product by consumers. The basic raw material of paper towels is wood fiber. The fiber may be a virgin or recycled waste paper or a combination of them. You can choose your best paper towels by considering some physical properties. Guidelines for choosing the best paper towels depend upon the physical properties such as strength, scrub strength, absorbency, weight, softer, water filtering capacity and thickness.

SHEARING NATURE

Shearing nature indicates the fabric resistance to indicate the energy loss during the fabric is recovering the shearing properties. Three properties mainly:

• Shear stress at 0.5 degree
• Shear rigidity (G)
• Shear stress at 5 degree

 Shearing properties are due to shear load required to deform unit width of the paper towel to unit stain is seldom reported. In the shearing property test, the paper towel is applied with opposing and parallel pressure until the maximum angle the paper towel can bear before it breaks.

ABSORPTIVE NATURE

Absorbency is an important property for toweling and other tissue products to wipe liquids. Absorbent tissue products should be capable of readily absorbing water (absorbency rate) and retaining a high level of absorptivity (absorbency capacity) until the end of the task (Kullander 2012). The ability to absorb liquid depends on having a high capillary pressure to suck the liquid and high permeability to allow the fluid to quickly flow away from the point of insult.

The absorption by different brands is shown by the chart

The arrangement of hydrophilic fibers in a low-density paper structure is responsible for the absorbent behavior of tissue products. 

Typically, in a saturated tissue product, water is located in the spaces between plies, spaces between fibers, in the fiber lumen, and inside the cell wall. Within the cell wall, water can be located in micro, meso, and macropores. Water present in micropores is classified as non-freezing and freezing water. Non-freezing water corresponds to the first layers of water associated with the biomass surface. Freezing water corresponds to the water that has a depressed melting temperature due to the curved interfaces in micropores. 

Paper towels are made up of cellulose fibers, which also make up cotton, wood, and most other plants. These cellulose fibers are actually giant molecules that consist of many small molecules linked together.

SURFACE PROPERTIES

Characterization of surface properties is essential to the understanding of the surface and interfacial phenomena such as adhesion between a binder and substrate, wetting of a liquid, printing, and coating. Surface properties include surface roughness and surface friction. Common uses of paper towels include wiping liquid spills and removing stains while providing a good hand feel. Creping and embossing are two main processes to improve performance properties.

Surface properties include

• Surface roughness
• Surface friction
• Handfeel
• Embossing

For a paper such as printing paper, writing paper, and newsprint, it is assumed that a smooth and uniform surface is required for end-users. Accordingly, technologies have focused on minimizing the surface roughness as much as possible. Softness, absorbency, and strength are important attributes 

Paper towels having different surfaces have different roughness.

STRENGTH AND DURABILITY

Strength and durability are resistant to rupture when subjected to various stress. The strength of paper is determined by the following factors in combination: (1) the strength of the individual fibers of the stock,

•  the average length of the fiber
•  the inter-fiber bonding ability of the fiber
• the beating and refining action
• the structure and formation of the sheet.

Since the weight of the paper and the width of the test specimen affect the force of rupture, a conventional method of comparing inherent paper strength is the breaking length—that is, the length of a paper strip in meters that would be just self-supporting.

Because paper is composed of a randomly felted layer of fiber, the structure has a varying degree of porosity. Thus, the ability of fluids, both liquid and gaseous, to penetrate the structure is a property both highly significant to the use of paper and capable of being widely varied by the conditions of manufacture.

SOFTNESS OF PAPER TOWELS

The perception of softness by the consumer represents a complex interaction with the product influenced by both the physical and sensory properties of the tissue product. The softness of tissue paper is generally recognized as being comprised of two components – bulk softness and surface softness.  The perception of bulk softness is discerned by gentle crumpling or folding of the tissue and is inversely related to flexural rigidity or bending stiffness.  The perception of surface softness is judged by the light brushing of the fingertips over the tissue surface. 

Sheet properties important to bulk softness include:

• Bending stiffness
• Flexibility
• Thickness 
• Compressibility

Sheet characteristics important to surface softness include:

• Texture
• Friction 
• Uniformity

The bulk component of softness can be quantified in a relatively straightforward manner employing one or preferably a combination of various well-known methods for measuring stiffness, bending resistance and/or flexural rigidity. Tensile stiffness is illustrated below as the slope of the stress-strain curve.  This slope is referred to as the modulus.  Young’s modulus refers to the initial slope of the stress-strain curve, whereas secant modulus is the slope of a line from the origin to any designated point on the stress-strain curve.