The physics of paper
Abstract
Paper is a material known to everybody. It has a network structure consisting of wood fibres that can be mimicked by cooking a portion of spaghetti and pouring it on a plate, to form a planar assembly of fibres that lie roughly horizontal. Real paper also contains other constituents added for technical purposes. This review has two main lines of thought. First, in the introductory part, we consider the physics that one encounters when 'using' paper, an everyday material that exhibits the presence of disorder. Questions arise, for instance, as to why some papers are opaque and others translucent, some are sturdy and others sloppy, some readily absorb drops of liquid while others resist the penetration of water. The mechanical and rheological properties of paper and paperboard are also interesting. They are inherently dependent on moisture content. In humid conditions paper is ductile and soft, in dry conditions brittle and hard. In the second part we explain in more detail research problems concerned with paper. We start with paper structure. Paper is made by dewatering a suspension of fibres starting from very low content of solids. The processes of aggregation, sedimentation and clustering are familiar from statistical mechanics. Statistical growth models or packing models can simulate paper formation well and teach a lot about its structure. The second research area that we consider is the elastic and viscoelastic properties and fracture of paper and paperboard. This has…
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