Papermaking

PAPERMACHINE - FORMING

1. Introduction

Papermaking is essentially the process of removing water from the

pulp. The figures below show the stock and water Sankey diagrams
for the flow around a typical papermachine system. These material
balances can change significantly depending on the grade that is
being made.

(a) (b)
Figure Sankey diagrams showing (a) stock flows and (b) water flows

The relative flows of the short circulation and a long circulation is

clearly seen in these diagrams. Most of the flow is in the short
circulation. We can also see that for this machine there is a lot of
stock recirculating in the short circulation loop.

Forming Page 1
2. Headbox

The function of the headbox is to distribute the papermaking stock

uniformly across the width of the wire section. The papermaking stock
pumped in a pipe is converted to a uniform rectangular flow with
absolutely the same flow rate and flow direction across the wire
width. The headbox consists of a manifold distributor, flow
stabilization elements and slice.

The manifold distributor is a tapered header which converts the pipe

line flow into a rectangular flow with same velocity, quantity and jet
thickness across the width of the wire section. The manifold
distributor design is very important to maintain a constant static
pressure along the cross machine direction. A recirculation valve is
provided at the other end of the manifold distributor

Based on the design of the headbox, flow stabilization elements are

present inside the headbox. These elements prevent the fibers from
flocculating and settling by producing turbulence. Depending on the
type of headbox these elements may be rolls, tubes or plates with
even holes. Flow stabilization in headbox improves paper formation.

The headbox slice is also known as the nozzle and consists of a top
lip and a bottom lip. The distance between the top lip and the bottom
lip is known as slice opening. Slice opening controls the stock velocity
and the angle of impingement of stock on the wire. The slice opening
is crucial for paper formation and dewatering on wire. The bottom lip
is stationary whereas the top lip is adjustable. A number of slice
arrangements are available depending on the headbox type and the
grade of paper to be manufactured

The major functions of the head box are:

• Further flow straightening (rectification)

• Streak elimination
• Floc dispersion
• Stock acceleration to machine speed

Forming Page 2
Types of Headboxes

The headbox serves several purposes: (1) Provide a uniform and

stable jet with a constant MD velocity with no lateral (CD)
components, (2) To create controlled turbulence to disperse flocs and
create a uniform suspension and (3) To accelerate the fluid up to a
high speed for fast paper production.

Pulp is dispersed by the shear created in wake turbulence. With the

high velocities possible in hydraulic headboxes, high levels of shear
can be attained, and therefore good pulp dispersion is possible.
However, wake turbulence decays quickly, resulting in pulp re-
flocculation. In most paper machines this occurs to a considerable
extent before the headbox jet reaches the forming zone.

One major type of headbox is called an “air pad” headbox. Here stock
flows through two or three slowly rotating perforated rolls. Wake
turbulence from these rolls disperses the pulp and creates mixing to
eliminate streaks from the tube bank. These headboxes have a free
surface, with pressurized air above. The air cushion provides a
dampening effect on pressure fluctuations in the stock flow entering
the headbox. The air pressure is controlled to set the pressure in the
headbox. The jet speed leaving the headbox is determined entirely
from the height of the free surface inside the headbox. Usually
around 10 inches of head on machines running at 500 m/min.

Forming Page 3
 Figure: Air Cushion or Air Pad headbox

Air-cushion headboxes are used in moderate speed papermachines.

Another newer type of headbox is the hydraulic headbox shown in

Here stock is fully enclosed (no air pad). Hydraulic headboxes were
designed for twin-wire forming where small slice geometry was
required to produce a free jet in the gap between the wires. The
headboxes are available with or without a stabilization chamber. The
stabilization chamber consists of a tube bank and is present between
the chamber and the slice. This tube bank is also known as
turbulence generator although its main function is to improve the
velocity profile in the cross direction.

Forming Page 4
 Figure: Beloit convertflo hydraulic headbox.

This tube bank has relatively large sudden expansion to generate

turbulence and break up the flocs in the flow and evenly distribute the
stock on the wire. Beloit inserted flexible vanes to reduce the large
scale turbulence that could cause large scale unevenness in the
paper.

Figure: Step diffuser headbox

Another example for the hydraulic headbox is the step diffuser

headbox in which the equalization chamber is absent. In the tube
bank an increase in area takes place through a sudden expansion of
the pipe diameters. The final section has a square cross section to

Forming Page 5
permit close packing. The tubes are places vertically one above the
other, eliminating the problem of basis weight streaks.

Figure: Multi-layer Headbox

It is possible to make multi-layered sheets of paper using multi-layer

headboxes. In a multi-layer headbox different stock can be put
together for the top, middle and bottom. Of course this requires
separate CD distributors for each layer. The bending stiffness as well
as the thickness along the vanes is important. This type of headbox is
used to manufacture tissue papers and specialty boards.

The head box has a slice that serves to deliver the jet through a
rectangular well-defined opening which is not deformed by changes
in temperature and pressure. The shape of the slice is controlled to
deliver even basis weight across the machine. The slice is
converging (often 20-30 degrees) and the opening can be regulated
both along the whole machine width and locally. Other requirements
include high rigidity, polished surface and lip adjustment.

Forming Page 6
 Figure Headbox slice lip.

Paper is sold on the basis of weight. Basis weight is the defined as

the weight of paper in grams, per square meter area (g/m2). Basis
weight for writing and printing paper ranges from 60 g/m2 to 90 g/m2.
Newsprint 45 g/m2 to 50 g/m2. Boxboards and corrugating medium
ranges from150 g/m2 to 450 g/m2. Coated papers range from as low
as 30 g/m2 to 250 g/m2

Uniform basis weight is necessary for the efficient runnability of paper

machine. Basis weight is controlled in paper machine by scanners
placed after calenders. These scanners measure the basis weight,
moisture and caliper profile continuously along the cross-machine
direction (width) of the sheet during production time.

The scanner sends signal to the machine chest thick stock pump to
vary the flow based on the basis weight set point. Modern scanning
systems perform statistical analysis on standard deviation or variance
in the cross-machine and machine direction. This reflects the
operational stability of the paper machine. The scanner collects the
data from a number of points in the cross-machine direction.

Individual slice screws placed across the width of the headbox control
cross-machine direction basis weight and profile. Position indicators
for these slice screws indicate the slice profile. Remote control of the

Forming Page 7
slice screws makes automatic control of the slice opening profile
possible, based on the basis weight profile recorded at the dry end of
the machine.

Dried fibers accumulated on the slice lip will cause fixed streaks
which are detrimental to paper quality. Unstable basis weight profile
is caused by hydrodynamic sources behind the slice area. Plugged
holes in the manifold distributor can cause larger instabilities. The
manifold inlet and outlet pressure should be same to produce a
uniform cross-machine direction basis weight profile. Special care
should be taken a the edges to produce stronger edges. Over
adjustment of slice screws should be avoided to cause deformation in
the slice lip.

3. Formers

The forming section of a paper machine is designed to produce a

particular grade of paper with a limited dewatering capacity. The
basis weight, speed of the machine and the grade to be
manufactured determines the type of forming section to be used. It is
designed to produce maximum dewatering with minimum fiber losses
and good formation. The cost of dewatering in the forming section is
lower than all the other sections of the paper machine for per unit of
water drained. The type of paper machine is named after the forming
section used. The press and the dryer section remain the same for
most of the paper machines. Fourdrinier paper machine is the most
widely used for producing writing, printing, copier, newsprint, etc.
Most of the newer machines are a modification of Fourdrinier
machine

Fourdrinier Formers

The fourdrinier forming section is a horizontal table consisting of a

breast roll, forming board, table rolls, foils, wet suction boxes, dry
suction boxes, dandy roll, lump breaker roll and couch roll. Auxiliary
rolls like tension rolls, return rolls, guide rolls, showers and doctor
blades are present to ensure smooth running of the forming section.
The forming fabric known as ‘wire’ is an endless finely woven belt
which runs between the breast roll near the headbox and the couch

Forming Page 8
roll at the other end. The couch roll is provided with most of the drive
power required to turn the wire along with the returning roll. However,
due to the increasing width and speed of the paper machine the
fourdrinier machine was incapable of providing the dewatering
capacity.

Figure: Fourdrinier papermachine

The fourdrinier paper machine is a horizontal table consisting of a

solid breast roll near the headbox and a couch roll at the other end.
The wire rotates between the breast roll and the couch roll. A forming
board is placed after the breast roll to support the wire as the stock
meets the wire. Drainage elements which aid in removing water are
placed between the breast roll and the couch roll. These drainage
elements are table rolls, foils, wet suction boxes, and dry suction
boxes. Vacuum is applied in wet suction and dry suction boxes to
provide the force to draw water from the sheet as it consolidates.

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 mixing forming drainage compaction

fabric

direction of travel
Figure showing the four stages of forming

The breast roll is the first component of the fourdrinier paper

machine. It is a solid hard rubber covered roll which supports the wire
when the stock meets the wire. The function of the breast roll is to
turn the wire at the headbox end of the section and takes the entire
tension load of the wire. The breast roll is not driven and is rotated by
the wire. Doctor blades are provided on the breast roll to prevent the
fiber lumps and water from following the roll. In tissue paper
manufacturing the breast roll is supplied with vacuum to help in
dewatering.

The forming board is installed to get rid of the sagging wire between
the breast roll and the first table roll or hydrofoil. The space between
the first table roll or hydrofoil and the breast roll is critical for paper
formation. The earliest forming boards were single slatted and were
mainly used to support the wire. However with the increasing width of
the paper machine slotted type forming boards with three to six slats
are used. Some forming boards also use a light vacuum to regulate
the initial drainage

Forming Page 10
headbox forming table
suction foils
wet flat boxes
forming table suction suction
board rolls foils flat boxes couch roll
breast
roll trays

forward
stretch guide wash drive roll
return rolls
Figure Schematic of Fourdrinier papermachine showing drainage
elements

The forming board is followed by drainage elements installed to

remove water and induce turbulence into the sheet for good
formation. The first drainage element used is the table rolls. Table
rolls rotate by the tension of the wire and create turbulence. The table
rolls must be straight, rigid and dynamically balanced, to prevent from
disrupting the formation. A table roll creates a suction pressure in the
downstream expansion zone between the wire and the roll. This
suction helps in water removal. The magnitude of the vacuum
depends on the diameter of the table roll. However, the suction will
also create a slight deflection in the wire. The greater the diameter
the greater the vacuum and the greater is the deflection. A film of
water accompanies the table roll on its return at high speeds and
splashes into the wire at the nip. This disturbs the formation.
Increasing paper machine speeds required large diameter table rolls
which disrupted the formation. Therefore, table rolls are replaced by
stationary drainage elements in modern high-speed machines.

Forming Page 11
 Figure showing the pressure caused by a table roll.

Hydrofoils have replaced table rolls in high-speed paper machines

having very short forming zones. The advantages of hydrofoils are
easy regulation of drainage, gentle turbulence, more drainage, good
formation at low consistencies, better retention of fines and fillers,
and reduced vacuum in wet suction boxes. The disadvantage of
hydrofoil is poor formation in absence of microturbulence and the
selection of proper material for durability and low coefficient of friction
which is very costly. Hydrofoil consists of two parts: top surfaces
called the flat surface which is parallel to the wire provides the
support to the forming wire and the trailing surface which is inclined to
the wire at an angle forms a divergent nip. The divergent nip is the
important part, which generates the vacuum and dewaters the sheet.
Blade angle and length of the divergent nip are the main parameters
which determines the performance of the hydrofoil blade such as
turbulence, drainage and fines retention. Hydrofoils are available with
different blade angles. The blade angles used vary from zero degrees
to seven degrees.

Forming Page 12
 Figure showing a foil blade and the associated pressure produced.

The paper made with hydrofoils shows improved formation, less

flockiness and a more even distribution of fibers. Paper properties like
porosity, roughness and two sidedness improve. Water spots are
absent in contrast to the sheets produced from table rolls. However
other sheet properties like caliper, tear and opacity remain practically
unchanged.

Wet suction boxes or vacuum foil units are extension of foil

technology where the foils are enclosed in a vacuum box. A fan or a
pump generates the vacuum. The amount of vacuum applied is low.
Two or six wet suction boxes can be placed in the wire section. The
vacuum draws the water and air inside the box. The air is separated
from the water using barometric legs. The white water flows
downwards and the air moves upward towards the vacuum header.
The vacuum is gradually increased from the first box near the breast
roll end towards the couch roll end. The increase in vacuum
increases the drag load on the drive. As the wire contacts the foils in
the suction box the foils get worn out due to friction. Proper selection
of material is required to reduce wear on both the wire and the foils.
Wet suction boxes are slotted to increase the open area

High vacuum boxes or dry suction boxes are flat covers containing
circular holes or slots which increase sheet concentration by using

Forming Page 13
vacuum to draw the water from the sheet. The vacuum levels in the
dry suction boxes range from 15-40 kPa. Three to five dry suction
boxes are used on the fourdrinier table and are placed after the
dandy roll and before the couch roll.

Figure shing the placement of the suction boxes.

A dandy roll is a wire covered open roll of cylindrical design and

evens out the paper surface. It is placed on the wire at a position
where the concentration of the sheet is around 2%-3% and improves
web formation by introducing shear in the stock. The dandy roll is not
a dewatering roll and the concentration of the stock remains the same
on the upstream and downstream sides of the roll. Watermark can
also be incorporated using the dandy roll. The dandy roll also reduces
two sidedness of the sheet. However, it is not possible to use dandy
rolls at a higher speeds due to marks in the wet web and difficult to
maintain cleanliness of the roll. The twin-wire can be considered to be
an extension of a dandy roll

Couch roll is the final stage of dewatering in the fourdrinier paper machine.
Most machines use suction couch roll to get a web dryness of 18-20%
leaving the former section. The increase in the dryness increases the tear in
the wet web enabling to apply more pressure in the press section. The couch

Forming Page 14
roll is the main drive of the wire in some machines, however, when a turning
roll is present the couch roll acts as a helper drive and the wire turning roll
the principal drive. Water removal in the couch roll is through a suction box
inside the roll. The water flows out of the system through the couch pan. The
design of the pan is such that the water does not enter the sheet on its return.
The perforations in the couch roll are kept clean by showers. The sheet from
the couch roll is transferred to the press section by means of a pick-up roll in
slower machines and a suction pick-up in high –speed machines.

Twin Wire formers

With the increasing machine speeds the forming section of a

fourdrinier machine became longer and problems with a unstable
liquid surface increased. The drainage of paper form one side
increased the two sidedness. To overcome this problem, a top wire
was used in addition to the bottom wire of the fourdrinier thus
enabling two-side dewatering. Twin-wire forming increased
dewatering capacity, more symmetric paper product, lower basis
weight variability, better formation and lower linting. There are a
variety of twin-wire formers which use different forming principles.

Twin-wire roll forming is used to produce printing paper. The stock jet
is injected into the nip between the two wires wrapping a rotating roll.
Dewatering takes place from both outer and inner wire. The latter
water is kept in the open roll surface and released after the inner wire
has been removed from the roll. The drained water is thereafter led to
the wire pit. The water passing through the outer wire is also led to
the wire pit. Roll formers do not produce sheet with top levels of
formation, however, they give a higher retention values which
eliminate the use of retention aids.

Forming Page 15
In a twin wire former, the jet from the headbox is captured between
two moving fabrics and dewatered on both sides

Some obvious advantages are:

• higher dewatering capability (needed for faster machines)

• less two-sidedness.
• avoidance of free surface instabilities
• improved formation

Figure: Twin Wire former

Roll Formers

In this case, the jet is captured in a wedge between to fabrics passing around a
rotating roll, as shown in Figure 2. Pressure is created by imposing a curvature
upon a fabric under tension.

Forming Page 16
 Figure: Roll former

As in the case of Fourdrinier forming, there is an initial pressure from

the jet inertia. The angles of impingement between the jet and fabric
are in the range 5-10 degrees as a result of the wedge geometry.

Figure: Point of impingement and the forming roll spray

Forming Page 17
The influence of jet to wire speed ratio in roll forming is illustrated by
the energy balance (Bernoulli equation) shown below. This equation
assumes that no energy is added to or taken away from the jet by the
fabric. As shown, to meet this condition, the jet speed must always
exceed the fabric speed. However, because the jet is a real fluid with
viscosity, this velocity difference introduces shear, which transfers
energy from the jet to the fabric, and therefore strictly speaking, the
Bernoulli equation can only approximately represent the case of jet
impingement in roll forming.

Roll formers generally produce poor formation but very good retention
of fines and filler. This is attributed to the “gentle” drainage pressure
imposed.

Jet to Wire Speed Ratio for Roll former:

P1 P2

Figure Forming roll pressure

Bernoulli Equation:

Forming Page 18
 u12 P1 u2 2 P2
+ = +
2 ρ 2 ρ
If we assume that the suspension velocity is equal to the wire velocity
at point 2 then

u12 u2 2 T
= +
2 2 ρR
Where T is the tension per unit width

u jet 2 T
= 1+ 2
uwire ρ uwire R

u jet − uwire 2 T
=
1+ 2 −1
uwire ρ uwire R
To minimize the difference and produce a random sheet of paper, you need to
minimize,

2 T
ρ uwire
2
R

Forming Page 19
(Roll) Blade Formers

Blade formers have vertical stationary elements mounted on both the

sides of the wires initially opposing each other but later positioned in
a staggered mode. A curved slotted forming shoe placed on one side
of the wires. The basic principle of dewatering is same to that of roll
forming. The radius of curvature for the wire was obtained by placing
the shoe element in that curvature to produce the necessary
dewatering pressure. This radius of curvature is larger than that of the
roll former and produces lower dewatering pressure than roll former
which in turn improves formation.

Figure Blade drainage

Forming Page 20
Roll blade forming is a combination of dewatering blades, forming
rolls, and blade shoes (forming shoes). If a blade shoe is designed as
a curved surface with parallel slots, pressure pulses will be generated
due to the wire deflections at the blade edges. Different combinations
of blade and roll formers are used. Some twin-wire formers use
blades followed by a blade shoe and roll dewatering. Others use
initial roll dewatering followed by blade shoes. However flow
instabilities in the roll nip cannot be avoided. The formation of the
sheets produced from these formers was low. To avoid these flow
instabilities hybrid formers were developed.

Hybrid formers are twin-wire formers in which a fourdrinier forming is

followed by a twin-wire forming. These type of formers are used for
producing printing papers and base paper for coating. The initial
forming takes place on a fourdrinier table consisting of a breast roll,
forming board, hydrofoils and vacuum foils. At this time the drainage
takes place at only one side of the wire. A top wire is placed after the
vacuum foils where vacuum is applied to draw water from the sheet
through the top wire. Hence two way drainage is achieved lowering
the two sidedness. The top wire returns back and the sheet follows
the fourdrinier wire to a dry suction box and couch roll. The hybrid
formers can have roll, blade or roll/blade or adjustable blade
dewatering following the Fourdrinier wire. Hybrid formers produce
good formation and symmetrical sheet structure.

Forming Page 21
 COUCH
VACUUM

BLADE
SHOE

FORMING

HEADBO

Figure showing the dewatering elements of a gap former

6
Pressure (kPa)

SIMPLE TENSION-DRIVEN 2

-2
DOCTORED -10 -5 0 5 10
UNDERFABRIC
FLOW Distance (cm)
FLOW

Forming Page 22
 Figure showing blade and measured pressure profile.

Figure: Experimental pressure measurement over blade

Calculating Jet Velocity

Stock is accelerated up to the machine speed in the headbox. This is

accomplished in a converging section, and then by a very sharp
contraction called a ‘slice” from which the stock emerges as a free jet.

Jet velocity is governed by headbox pressure. It is typically measured

from this pressure using the Bernoulli equation.

The jet thickness and jet velocity determine the flow rate discharging
from the headbox. The jet thickness is determined by the slice
opening and its geometry. The slice creates a “vena contracta”, which
causes the jet thickness to contract to a smaller value than the slice
opening. This is commonly described by a “contraction coefficient”
shown below. The jet pressure falls to zero at the vena contracta.

Both the jet contraction coefficient and its angle of outflow can be
estimated from hydrodynamic potential flow theory.

Forming Page 23
Mass Balance:

u1h1 = µ h0u

u1h1
u=
µ h0

Momentum:

P1 u12 P0 u 2
+ + ρ gh1 = + + ρ gh0
ρ 2 ρ 2

Forming Page 24
Note: P0 = 0

P1 u12 u 2
+ = + ρ g ∆H 2
ρ 2 2

Substituting and simplifying yields:

1
  P 
2
 2g  1
− ∆H 2  
 ρg 
u =  2 
 1−  µ h  
 
0
 
  h1  

Forming Page 25
 Appendix: Vena-Contraction coefficient

Formation

During the forming process fibres are stochastically deposited onto

the moving wire. The resulting wet web of fibres has a non-uniform
mass distribution that affects the strength and optical properties of the
paper.

This basis weight variation is referred to as the ‘formation’ of the

paper and is easily seen by the naked eye in almost all papers.

Forming Page 26
 Figure. Two pictures of paper using transmitted light showing good
formation (left) and bad formation (right).

The basis weight variation is due to the random nature of depsotiing a

thin layer of fibres onto a surface and due to the incomplete
disruption of ‘flocs’ that form in the fibre suspension. It can be said
that they are due to the:
1. randomness of single fibre distribution
2. fibre interactions
3. flocculation
4. hydrodynamics forces both turbulent and ‘self healing effect’.

Turbulence is used to create a more random sheet. However, even a

perfectly random sheet will have basis weight variations.

The ‘self-healing effect’ or ‘hydrodynamic smoothing’ is where more

fluid flows through the low basis weight regions in the sheet bringing
more fibres to that low basis weight region and creating a more
uniform sheet that is better than random.

Formation effect many paper properties. Some of the most important

are:

1. Print unevenness
2. tensile strength
3. cockling (waviness of paper surface)

Forming Page 27
Formation is measured using beta radiation absorption or light
absorption. The advantage of beta-radiation is that it can be
relatively independent on fibre type where as optical measurement
rely strongly on fibre type and the treatment of the fibres (for example
by refining). This means that the formation measurements must be
often calibrated.

The most common measurement is the specific formation, which is

the standard deviation of baiss weight, σb, divided by the square root
of the basis weight.
σb
fN =
b
Note that the units of specific formation are in units of square root of
basis weight.

Coefficient of variation is also used which is dimensionless

σb
COV (b) =
b
Purely random networks

The theory starts with Corte and Kallmes (1960). IF every fibre
randomly and independently is laid down on top of each other then
you get a Poisson process.

The number of fibres in an area, A, is then given by

N = bA / l f ω f

Or wif we know the mass of a fibre is

mf = lf ω f

Then

Forming Page 28
 N = bA / m f

For a poisson distribution, the variance is N (note the variance equals

the mean) and the standard deviation of basis weight is then

σb = N mf / A

Therefore the specific formation of a purely random sheet of paper is:

fN = mf / A

Where A is interpreted as the square of the resolution in the

measurement (size of inspection window).

For paper sheets formed in a handsheet former (nearly pure random

sheets) we see that the only variable affecting formation is fibre

Forming Page 29
mass. Note that this analysis assumes that the fibres are all the
same length and have the same mass and the sheet is isotropic (no
orientation).

This analysis also shows the importance of inspection window size

(spatial resolution). The figure above shows how the formation will
appear to improve if you use a large inspection zone. This is
important to realize when comparing 2 different measurements of
formation that use different techniques.

Formation has been shown to be increase exponentially with

crowding number, defined as,

ncrowd = π Cl 2f / 6ω f

Forming Page 30
High values of N give ppor formation. Kerekes and Schell showed
that a possible threshold number is approximately Ncrowd =60 for the
start of flocculation that leads to formation problems.

Formation on the papermachine

The above figure shows approximate values of formation through the

forming profcess for three different types of papermachines.

One of the main papermachines variable that can affect formation is

the jet to wire speed ratio. If the ratio is 1 the fluid matches the speed
of the wire and there is relatively little shear imposed on the
suspension and the fibres are able to flocculate and create poor
formation.

If the jet to wire speed is not 1 then shear induces turbulence that
breaks up flocs and the formation can improve. (See figure below).

Forming Page 31
Effect on properties

The variation of basis weight impacts many of the important paper

properties as we said in the introduction.

The figure above shows how print unevenness is a clear function of

specific formation. The variation of basis weight means that the force
imposed on the paper by the printing plate is non uniform. The high

Forming Page 32
basis weight areas carry more of the load then the low basis weight
areas of the paper.

Any property that is non-linearly related to basis weight will be

affected by formation. For example, fluid permeability and opacity.
Both are very large at low basis weight. Figure 27 (above) shows
how air resistance and opacity are adversely affected by poor
formation.

Tensile strength also decreases with poor formation. Figure 40

shows that as the consistency of forming increases, which decreases
formation, the tensile strength decreases.

Forming Page 33
Forming Page 34