Journal of Korea TAPPI ISSN:0253-3200(Print) 펄프종이기술

In papermaking industry, inorganic fillers are widely used for the purpose of improving opacity, brightness, printability, uniformity and dimensional stability. They are also useful for production costs and energy savings. In the past, inorganic fillers in papermaking industry only focused on micro-scale but recently, new trials on nano-powdered technology are applying. Even nano-powdered fillers are rapidly utilized for improving the optical and surface properties in coating and surface sizing, there still have some problems in wet-end process due to poor dispersibility and retention.

In this study, nano-particled calcium carbonate was produced by milling the PCC and its applicability between micro sized and nano sized calcium carbonated was compared in wet-end process, and finally the sheet properties were evaluated. Nano-PCC was not retained in sheet structure without applying retention system, but with retention system nano-powdered PCC was absorbed on fiber surface with expanding the fiber networks. The application of PAM-bentonite system has resulted in high ash retention and bulky structure for copier paper, and good optical properties in brightness and opacity. However, it required to solve the weakness of low tensile property due to interruption of hydrogen bonding by nano fillers.