Effect of fiber wall pore structure on pulp sheet density of softwood kraft pulp fibers

In this study fiber cell wall porosity was altered by fiber line simulation in a laboratory. The changes in the fiber cell porosity were analyzed with a water retention value (WRV) test. Pore size distributions were measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DCS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to determine the cell wall pore area from cross sections of the S2 layer of the cell wall. WRV was shown to correlate with the amount of water in the pores with a diameter of at least 200 nm. Changes in the non-freezing and total bound water did not affect the WRV. The calculated shrinkage forces generated by the capillary forces in different pore cell wall structures correlated with the sheet densities generated by fiber networks. It was observed that the swelling of the cell wall, defined as an increase in the diameter of the cell wall, was most likely not occurring or was very difficult to detect.