Fold cracking of high grammage coated paper depending on pulp composition and structure of base paper

Abstract

Fold cracking is one of quality troubles of coated papers. In this study, the fold cracking of high grammage (250 g/m2) coated paper made with the different pulp composition and layer structure of base paper was investigated. The single layered, high grammage base paper was prepared by mixing of hardwood and softwood bleached kraft pulp fibers with the different ratios. The high grammage coated paper showed the higher fold cracking than low grammage coated paper because of the increase in thickness. The increase in the content of softwood pulp fibers reduced the fold cracking in the case of high grammage coated paper. When the creasing process was conducted before folding process, the fold cracking of coated paper decreased. By manufacturing the base paper with multiply structure, the fold cracking of coated paper could be reduced significantly, especially when the BCTMP and OCC were used as a middle layer and the creasing process was carried out. The delamination of layers in base paper affected the fold cracking positively.