Mechanism and application research of moisture dynamic absorption and desorption of paper
摘要
The mechanical strength of reconstituted tobacco is reduced by significant moisture absorption resulting from its high hydrophilicity. The web breaking occurs frequently during the production of reconstituted tobacco, seriously reducing production efficiency and quality stability. Therefore, the regulation of moisture absorption and desorption properties of reconstituted tobacco (RT) paper has gained increasing attention. This work presents a pulp cellulose treatment method for regulating the moisture absorption and desorption performances of the tobacco fibers. The water droplet infiltrated more rapidly on the reconstituted tobacco paper (RT-paper) than on the A4 paper. Then, the moisture absorption mass of RT-paper and A4 paper was 62 mg and 60 mg at 80% relative humidity (RH), respectively. Moreover, the mean fiber length of RT-paper and A4 paper was 1.031 mm and 0.698 mm, respectively. Additionally, the proportion of fine fibers in the RT-paper and the A4 paper was 0.13 and 0.117, respectively. As expected, the proportion of fine fibers and mean fiber length were considered critical factors influencing the hygroscopic performance of the RT-paper. The discharge-to-recirculation ratio of pulp was systematically controlled and optimized. The increase in moisture absorption was 9.3% for optimized RT-paper (ORT-paper) and 10.47% for RT-paper. At last, the proportion of fine fibers and mean fiber length in the ORT-paper were 0.104 and 1.402 mm, respectively. This provides a rationale for the effective improvement in the hygroscopic performance of RT-paper.