Problem Summary

The ability to consistently achieve good sheet strength is perhaps the most important aspect of today’s papermaking operations.  Delivering consistent sheet strength to converters and consumers is important to the long-term success of a paper machine’s product in the marketplace. However, many factors can negatively affect strength including changes in refining, wet end chemistry, forming, pressing, and machine speed.  As a result, many papermakers find themselves operating in a very narrow window of machine performance vs. strength as they try to push their machines to higher efficiency or production levels.

Recommended Solution

Hercobond® 6000 paper performance products were developed to help papermakers meet their strength objectives.  A key feature of this technology is its ability to deliver strength “directly” through improved bonding and “indirectly” through increased mat drainage. 

Unlike traditional dry strength additives, Hercobond 6000 products use multiple bonding mechanisms to directly enhance sheet strength.  These bonding mechanisms include hydrogen, ionic, and covalent linkages to improve a variety of permanent strength properties.  As a result, marked gains over traditional dry strength resin and starch programs have been realized in commercial applications.  Additionally, significant improvements in ring crush, STFI, burst, internal bond, and tensile strength have been documented.

Hercobond 6000 series products enable the papermaker to achieve strength indirectly due to dramatic increases in mat drainage and drying.  Increased water removal enables the papermaker to run lower headbox consistencies to improve formation and increase strength. In addition, higher levels of refining allow significant gains in sheet strength without compromising machine speed due to drainage limitations.             
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Key benefits of Hercobond® 6000 paper performance technology:

Increased paper strength including ring crush, STFI, Concora, internal bond, tensile, and burst
Increased machine speed and production gains with some documented cases over 10%
Reduced chemical additive usage including starch, retention aids, charge donors, and size
Improved formation due to lower HB consistency and reduced flocculant usage
Energy savings through reduced steam usage in dryer