Study of Method for Bulkier Structure of Wet Pulp Mold Manufacturing Process by Using Low Polarity Solvent

Abstract

The bulk of pulp mold would be one of the very important properties as environmental friendly packaging material or water-absorption material. Since the pulp mold is made of various plant fibers, such as wood and non-woody fibers including recycled fiber, the structure of pulp mold becomes more dense during drying process by hydrogen bonding originated from the polarity of water. In this study, the effects of the application of the low polarity solvent such as ethyl alcohol as the forming solution and the spraying solvent after a vacuum drainage process were evaluated. The solution of the different mixing ratio between water and low polarity solvent was applied for this experiment. The results showed that the higher contents of the low polarity solvent in the forming solution resulted in the bulkier structure, the faster drying speed and the higher water absorption properties. The spraying treatment with the mixing solution with the low polarity solvent led to the similar effects on the pulp mold structure, which showed that the bulkier structure could be achieved by changing the polarity of water in the wet pulp mold with the lower polarity solvent.