IL203346A - Method of making a belt-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet - Google Patents

Description

203346/2 203346 [7'π I 453526 τηχ iw>-£n >ιοο n n * πν > ποπϊ» ηυ>¾> METHOD OF MAKING A BELT-CREPED ABSORBENT CELLULOSIC SHEET FORT JAMES CORPORATION C: 70092 1 203346/2 Claim for Priority and Technical Field This application is based upon and claims priority of United States Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/562,025, filed April 14, 2004 and available from the WIPO website on the PCT/US2005/12320 page. This application is also a continuation-in-part of copending United States Patent Application Serial No. 10/679,862 entitled "Fabric Crepe Process for Making Absorbent Sheet", filed on October 6, 2003 and published as US 2004/0238135, which in turn claims priority fro U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/416,666, filed October 7, 2002 and available from the WIPO website on the PCT/US2003/31418 page. This application is directed, in part, to a process wherein a web is compactively dewatered, creped into a creping fabric and dried wherein processing is controlled to produce products with high CD stretch and low tensile ratios.

Background Methods of making paper tissue, towel, and the like are well known, including various features such as Yankee drying, through drying, fabric creping, dry creping, wet creping and so forth. Conventional wet pressing processes have certain advantages over conventional through-air drying processes including: (1) lower energy costs associated with the mechanical removal of water rather than transpiration drying with hot air; and (2) higher production speeds which are more readily achieved with processes which utilize wet pressing to form a web. On the other hand, through-air drying processing has been widely adopted for new capital investment, particularly for the production of soft, bulky, premium quality tissue and towel products.

Fabric creping has been employed in connection with papermaking processes which include mechanical or compactive dewatering of the paper web as a means to influence product properties. See United Stares Parent Nos. 4 ,689, 1 1 and 4,551 , 199 of Weldon; 4,849,054 and 4, 834 ,838 of Klowa and 6,287,426 f Edwards el al. Operation oi" fabric creping processes has been hampered by the difficulty of effectively transferring a web of high or intermediate consistency to a dryer. Note also United Stares Patent No . 6,350.349 to Hermans et al. which discloses wet transfer of a web from a rotating transfer surface to a fabric. Further parents relating to fabric crepmg more generally include the following: 4 ,834 ,838: 4 ,482,429 4,445 ,638 as well as 4 ,440,597 to Wells ei al.

In connection with papennaking processes, fabric molding has also been employed as a means to provide texture and built. In this respect, there is seen in United States Patent No. 6,610, 173 to Lindsey et al. a method for imprinting a paper web during a wet pressing event "which results in asymmetrical protrusions corresponding to the deflection conduits of a deflection member. The ' 1 73 patent reports that a differential velocity transfer during a pressing event serves to improve the molding and imprinting of a web with a deflection member. The tissue webs produced are reported as having particular sets of physical and geometrical properties, such as a pattern densified network and a repeating pattern of protrusions having asymmetrical structures. With respect to wet-molding of a web using textured fabrics, see, also, the following United States Patents: 6,017,417 and 5,672,248 both to Wendt ei al ; 5,508,818 and 5 ,510,002 to Hermans ei al. and 4 ,637, 859 to Trokhan. With respect to the use of fabrics used to imparl texture to a mostly dry sheet, see United States Patent No. 6,585,855 to Drew ei al. , as well' as United States Publication o. US 2003/00064.

Throtighdried, creped products are disclosed in the following patents: United States Patent No. 3 ,994 ,771 to Morgan, Jr. ei al ; United States Patent No. 4, 1 02,737 to Morion; and United States Patenl No. 4,529,480 to Trokhan. The processes described in these patents comprise, very generally, forming a web on a foraminous support, thermally pre-drying the web, applying the web to a Yankee dryer with a nip defined, in part, by an impression fabric, and creping the product from the Yankee dryer. A relatively permeable web is typically required, making it d ifficult to employ recycle furnish at levels which may be desired. Transfer to the Yankee typically takes place at web consistencies of from about 60% to about 70%: although in some processes the transfer occurs at much higher consistencies, sometimes even approaching air-dry.

As noted in the above, throughdried products tend to exhibit enhanced bulk and softness; however, thermal dewatering with hot air tends to be energy intensive. Wet-press operations wherein the webs are mechanical ly dewatered are preferable from an energy perspective and are more readily applied to furnishes containing recycle fiber which tends to form webs with less permeability than virgin fiber. Many improvements relate to increasing the bulk and absorbency of compactively dewatered products which are typically dewatered. in part, with a papermaking felt.

Despite advances in the art, previously known wet press processes have not produced the highly absorbent webs with preferred physical properties especially elevated CD stretch at relatively low machine direction (MD)/CD tensile ratios as are sought after for use in premium tissue and towel products.

In accordance with the present invention, the absorbency. bulk and stretch of a wet-pressed web can be vastly improved by wet fabric creping a web and rearranging the fiber on a creping fabric, while preserving the high speed, thermal efficiency, and furnish tolerance to recycle fiber of conventional wet press processes Summary of the Invention There is thus provided in a first aspect of the invention an absorbent sheet ■ of cellulosic fibers including a mixture of hardwood fibers and softwood fibers arranged in a reticulum having: (i) a plural ity of pileated fiber enriched regions of . relatively high local basis weigh; interconnected by way of fii) a plurality of lower local basis weight linking regions. The fiber orientation of the linking regions is biased along the direction between pileated regions interconnected 'thereby. The relative basis weight, degree of pileation, hardwood to softwood ratio., fiber length distribution, fiber orientation, and geometry of the reticulum are controlled such that the sheet exhibits a percent CD stretch of at least about 2.75 times the dry tensile ratio of the sheet. In one preferred embodiment the sheet exhibits a void volume of at least about 5 g/g, a CD stretch of at least about 5 percent and a MD/CD tensile ratio of l ess than about 1 .75. In another preferred embodiment the MD/CD tensile ratio is less than aboui 1.5. In another preferred embodiment the sheet has an absorbency of at least about 5 g/g, a CD stretch of at least about 10 percent and a MD/CD tensile ratio of less than about 2.5. In a still further preferred embodiment the sheet exhibits an absorbency of at least aboui 5 g/g, a CD streLch of at least about 15 percent and a MD/CD tensile ratio of less than about 3.5. A CD stretch of at least about 20 percent and a MD/CD tensile ratio of less than about 5 is believed achievable in accordance with the present invention.

As will be seen from the data which follows, a percent CD stretch of at least about 3. 3.25 or 3.5 times the dry tensile ratio is readily achieved in accordance with the present invention.

In general, a percent CD stretch of at least about 4 and a dry tensile ratio of from about 0.4 to about 4 are typical of products of the invention. Preferably, the products have a CD stretch of least about 5 or 6. In some cases a CD stretch of at least about 8 or at least about 1 0 is preferred.

The inventive products typically have a void volume of at least about 5 or 6 g/g. Void volumes of at least about 7 g/g. 8 g/g, 9 g/g or 1 0 g/g are likewise typical.

. . The inventive sheet may consist predominantly (more than 50%) of hardwood fiber or softwood fiber. Typically the sheet includes a mixture of these two fibers.

In another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of making a cellul osic web for tissue or towel products including the steps of: ( aj preparing an aqueous cellulosic papermahing furnish; (b) providing the papermal ing furnish to a forming fabric as a jel issuing from a head box al a jet speed; ( c) compaciively dewateriug the papermalang furnish to form a nascent web having an apparently ' random distribution of papermalang fiber; (d) applying the dewatered web having an apparently random fiber distribution to a translating transfer surface moving at a first speed; (e) belt creping the web from the transfer surface at a consistency of from about 30 to about 60 percent utilizing a patterned creping belt, the creping step occurring under pressure in a belt creping mp defined between the transfer surface of the creping belt wherein the belt is traveling at a second speed slower than the speed of said transfer surface. The belt pattern, nip parameters, velocity delta and web consistency are selected such that the web is creped from the transfer surface and redistributed on the creping belt to form a web with a reticulum having a plurality of interconnected regions of different local basis weights including at least (i) a plurality of fiber enriched regions of relatively high local basis weight, interconnected by way of (ii) a plurality of lower local basis weight regions. The web is then dried. It will be seen that the hardwood to softwood ratio, fiber length distribution, overall crepe, jet speed, drying and belt creping steps are controlled and the creping bell' partem is selected such thai the web is characterized in that it has a percent CD stretch which is at least about 2.75 times the dry tensile ratio of the web. These parameters are also selected such that the. properties rioted above in connection with the inventive products are achieved in various embodiments of the invention.

The inventi ve process may be practiced with predominant)}' hardwood fiber for producing base shee! for tissue manufacture or the inventive process may , W O 2 I M I5/ I I > ! I be practiced with a furnish consisting predominantly of softwood fiber when n is desired to make towel. It will be appreciated by one of skill in the art that other additi ves are selected as so desired.

It has been found in accordance with the present invention that the webs having a local variation i basis weight are preferably calendered between steel calender rolls when calendering is desirable.

The bell creped web of the invention is typically characterized in that the 1 0 fibers of the fiber em'iched regions are biased in the cross direction as will be appreciated from the attached photomicrographs.

Generally the process is operated at a fabric crepe of from about 10 to about 100 percent. Preferred embodiments include those wherein the process is 15 operated at a fabric crepe of at least about 40; 60, 80 or 100 percent or more. The inventive process may be operated at a fabric crepe of 125 percent or more.

The process of the presen invention is exceedingly famish tolerant, and can be operated with large amounts of secondary fiber if so desired.

Still further features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the discussion which follows.

Brief Description of Drawings The invention is described in detail below with reference to the Figu res, wherein: Figure J is a photomicrograph (120X) in section along the machine direction of a fiber enriched region of a fabric creped sheet: Figure 2 is a p lot of MD/CD dry tensile ratio versus jet/wire velocity delLu in feet per minute; Figure 3 is a photomicrograph ( l OXj of the fabric side of a fabric creped web; Figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a paper machine which may be used to produce the products and practice the process of the present invention, Figures 5 and 6 are plots of CD stretch versus MD/CD tensile ratio for 1 3 lb sheet produced with various fabrics and crepe ratios; Figures 7 through 9 are plots of CD stretch versus dry tensile ratio for vari ous 24 lb sheets of the invention; and Figure 10 is a plot of caliper reduction versus calender load for vari ous combinations of steel and rubber calender rolls.

Detailed Description The invention is described in detail below with reference to several embodiments and numerous examples. Such discussion is for purposes of illustration only. Modifications to particular examples within the spirit and scope of the. present invention, set forth in the appended claims, will be readily apparent to one of skill in the art.

Teiminology used herein is given its ordinary meaning with the exemplary definitions set forth immediately below.

Absorbency of the inventive products (SAT) is measured with a simple absorbency tester. The simple absorbencv tester is a particularly useful apparatus for measuring the hydrophilicity and absorbency properties of a sample of tissue, V.' O 2111)5/ 1 I 1 7 I' CT/ U S aoi lr i n 2 211 napkins, or towel. In this test a sample of tissue, napkins, or rowel 2.0 inches in diameLer is mounted between a top flat plastic cover and a bottom grooved sample plate. The tissue, napkin, or rowel sample disc is held in place by a 1/8 inch wide circumference flange area. The sample is not compressed by the holder. De- 5 ionized water at 73 °F is introduced to the sample at the center of the bottom sample plate through a 1 mm. diameter conduit. This water is at a hydrostatic head o minus 5 nun. Flow is initiated by a pulse introduced at the. start of the measurement by the instrument mechanism. Water is thus imbibed by the Lissne, napkin, or towel sample from this central entrance point radially outward by ] 0 capillar)' action. When the rate of water imbibation decreases bel ow 0.005 gm water per 5 seconds, the test is terminated. The amount of water removed from the reservoir and absorbed by the sample is weighed and reported as grams of water per square meter of sample unless otherwise indicated, in practice, an M/K Systems Inc. Gravimetric Absorbency Testing System is used. This is a commercial system obtainable from M/K Systems Inc., 12 Garden Street, Danvers, Mass., 01923. WAC or water absorbent capacity also referred to as SAT is actually determined by the instrument itself. WAC is defin ed as the point where the weight versus time graph has a "zero" slope, i.e., the sample has stopped absorbing. The termination criteria for a test are expressed in maximum change in water weight absorbed over a fixed time period. This is basically an estimate of zero slope on the weight versus time graph. The program uses a change of 0.005 g over a 5 second time interval as termination criteria; unless "Slow Sat" is specified in which case the cut off criteria is 1 mg in 20 seconds.

Throughout this specification and claims, when we refer to a nascent web having an apparently random distribution of fiber orientation (or use like terminology), we are referring to the distribution of fiber orientation that results when known forming techniques are used for depositing a furnish on the forming fabric. When examined microscopically, the fibers give the appearance, of being randomly oriented even though, depending on the jet to wire speed, there may be a significant bias toward machine direction orientation making the machine direction tensi l e strength of the web exceed the cross-directi on tensile strength.

Unless otherwise specified, "basis weight", BWT. bwi and so forth refers lo the weight oi' a 3000 square fool ream of product. Consistency refers to percent solids of a nascent web, for example, calculated on a bone dry basis. "Air dry" means including residual moisture, by convention up to about 1 0 percent moisture for pulp arid up to about 6% for paper. A nascent web having 50 percent water and 50 percent bone dry pulp has a consistency of 50 percent.

The term "cellulosic", "cellulosic sheet" and the like is meant to include any product incorporating papermaking fiber having cellulose as a major constituent. "Papermakmg fibers" include virgin pulps or recycle (secondary) cellulosic fibers or fiber mixes comprising cellulosic fibers. Fibers suitable for making the webs of this invention include: nonwood fibers, such as cotton, fibers or cotton derivatives, abaca; kenaf, sabai grass, flax, esparto grass, straw, jute hemp, bagasse, milkweed floss fibers, and pineapple leaf fibers; and wood fibers such as those obtained from deciduous and coniferous trees, including softwood fibers, such as north em and southern softwood kraft fibers, hardwood fibers, such as eucalyptus, maple, birch, aspen, or the like. Papermaking fibers can be liberated from their source material by any one of a number of chemical pulping processes familiar to one experienced in the art including sulfate, sulfite, polysulfide, soda pulping, etc. The pulp can be bleached if desired by chemi cal means including the use of chlorine, chlorine dioxide, oxygen and so forth. The products of the present invention may comprise a blend of conventional fibers (whether derived from virgin pulp or recycle sources) and high coarseness li.gn.in-rich tubular fibers, such as bleached chemical therrnornechanical pulp (BCTM.P). "Furnishes" and like terminology refers to aqueous compositions incl uding papermaking fibers, wet strength resins, debonders and the like for making paper products.

As used herein, the term compactively dewatering the web or furnish refers to mechanical dewatering by wet pressing on a dewatering felt, for example, in some embodiments by use of mechanical pressure applied continuously over the web surface as in a ni p„between a press rol l and a press shoe wherein the web is in contact with a papermaking felt. The terminology "compactively dewatering" is used to distinguish processes wherein the initial dewatering of the web is carried out largely by thermal means as is the case, for example, in United States Patent No. 4,529,480 to Trokhan and United States Patent No. 5,607,5 1 to Farringlon el al. noted above. Compactively dewatering a web thus refers, for example, to removing water from a nascent web having a consistency of less than 30 percent or so by appl ication of pressure thereto and/or increasing the consistency of the web by about 15 percent or more by application of pressure thereto.

"Fabric side" and like term inology refers to the side of the web which is in contact with the creping and drying fabric. "Dryer side" or the like is the side of the web opposite the fabric side of the web.

Fpm refers to feet per minute while consistency refers to the weight percent fiber of the web.

MD means machine direction and CD means cross-machine direction, also referred to as "cross-direction".

Nip parameters include, without limitation, nip pressure, nip length, backing roll hardness, fabric approach angle, fabric takeaway angle, uniformity, and velocity delta between surfaces of the nip.

Nip length means the length over which the nip surfaces are in contact.

"On line" and like terminology refers to a process step performed without removing the web from the papermachine in which the web is produced. A web is S drawn or calendered on line when i t is drawn or calendered without being severed prior 10 wind-up.

A translating transfer surface refers to the surface from which the web is creped into the creping fabric. The Translating transfer surface may be the surface of a rotating drum as described hereafter, or may be the surface of a continuous smooth moving bell or another moving fabric which may have surface iexrure and so forth. The translating transfer suriace needs to support the web and faci litate the high solids creping as will be appreciated from the discussion which follows.

Calipers and or bull-; reported herein may be 1 . A or S sheet calipers. The sheets are stacked and the caliper measurement taken about the centra] portion of the stack. Preferably, the test samples are conditioned m an atmosphere of 23 ° ± 1 .0°C (73.4° ± 1 .S°F) at 50% relative humidity for at least about 2 hours and then measured with a Thwing-Albert Model 89-11- JR or Progage Electronic Thickness Tester with 2-in (50.8-mm) diameter anvils, 539 ± 10 grams dead weight load, and 0.23 1 in./sec descent rate. For finished product testing, each sheet of product to be tested must have the same number of plies as the product is sold. For testing in general, eight sheets are selected and stacked together. For napkin testing, napkins are enfolded prior to stacking. For basesheet testing off of winders, each sheet to be tested must have the same number of plies as produced off the winder. For basesheet testing off of the papermachine reel, single plies must be used. Sheets are stacked together aligned in the MD. On custom embossed or printed product, try to avoid taking measurements in these areas if at all possible. B ulk may also be expressed in units of volume/weight by dividing caliper by basis weight.

Dry tensile strengths (MD and CD), stretch, ratios thereof, break modulus, stress and strain are measured with a standard lnstron test device or other suitable elongation tensile tester which may be configured in various ways, typically using W O 2t )5/ I Oi. i 1 7 !>Γ"Γ/ 1)Κ2005/ΙΠ 23211 12 3 or 1 inch wide strips of tissue or towel, conditioned at 50% relative humidity and 23 °C (73.4), with the tensile test run ax a crosshead speed of 2 in/mm.

Tensile ratios are simply ratios of the values determined by way of the 5 foregoing methods. Tensile ratio refers to the MD/CD dry tensile ratio unless otherwise stated. Unless otherwise specified, a tensile property is a dry sheet property . Tensile strength is sometimes referred to simply as tensile. "Unl ess otherwise specified, break tensile strength, stretch and so forth are reported herein. ] 0 "Fabric crepe ratio" is an expression of the speed differential between the creping fabric and the forming wire and typically calculated as the ratio of the web speed immediately before creping and the web speed immediately fo llowing creping, because the fonning wire and transfer surface are typical])', but not necessarily, operated at the same speed: Fabric crepe ratio = transfer cylinder speed ÷ creping fabric speed Fabric crepe can also be expressed as a percentage calculated as: Fabric crepe, percent, = Fabric crepe ratio - 1 x 1 00% Line crepe (sometimes referred to as overall crepe), reel crepe and so forth are similarly calculated as discussed below.

PLI or pli means pounds force per linear inch.

Predominantly means more than about 50%, typically by weight; bone dry basis when referring to fiber. 3 Pusey and Jones (P-rJ) hardness (indentation) sometimes referred to as J'+J is measured in accordance with ASTJvl D 53 1 . and refers to the indentation number (standard specimen and conditions).

V elocity delta means a difference ki linear speed.

The void volume and /or void volume ratio as referred to hereafter, are determined by saturating a sheet with a nonpolar POROFLL * liquid and measuring the amount of liquid absorbed. The volume of liquid absorbed is equi valent to the void volume within the sheet structure. The percent weight increase (PWI) is expressed as grams of liquid absorbed per gram of fi er in the sheet structure times 100. as noted hereinafter. More specifically, for each smgle-ply sheet sample to be tested, select 8 sheets and cut out a 1 inch by 1 inch square ( ] mch in the machine direction and 1 inch in the cross-machine direction). For multi-ply product samples, each ply is measured as a separate entity. Multiple samples should be separated into individual single plies and 8 sheets from each ply position used for testing. Weigh and record the dry weight of each test specimen to the nearest 0.0001 gram. Place the specimen in a dish containing POROFIL "' liquid having a specific gravity of 1.875 grams per cubic centimeter, available from Coulter Electronics Ltd.. 'Northwell Drive, Luton, Beds, England (Part No. 9902458.) After 10 seconds, grasp the specimen at the very edge ( 1 -2 Millimeters in) of one corner with tweezers and remove from the liquid. Hold the specimen with that comer uppermost and allow excess liquid to drip for 30 seconds. Lightly dab (less than ½ second contact) the lower corner of the specimen on #4 filter paper (Whatman Lt., Maidstone, England) in order to remove any excess of the last partial drop. Immediately weigh the specimen, within 1 0 seconds, recording the weight to the nearest 0.0001 gram. The PW.I for each specimen, expressed as grams of POROFIL*' per gram of fiber, is calculated as follows: wj = [rw-,-w,)/W ]] x 1 00% i4 wherein "'Wi" is the dry weigh! of the specimen, in grams; and "W:" is the wet weight of the specimen, in grams.

The PWl for all eight indi idual specimens is determined as described above and the average of the eight specimens is the PWl for the sample.

The void volume ratio is calculated by dividing the PWl by 1.9 (density of fluid) to express the ratio as a percentage, whereas the void volume (gms/gm) is simply the weight increase ratio; that is, PWl divided by 100.

According to the present invention, an absorbent paper web is made by dispersing papermaking fibers into aqueous furnish (slurry) and depositing the aqueous furnish onto the forming wire of a papermalaiig machine, typically by way of a jet issuing from a headbox. Any suitable forming scheme might be used. For example, an extensive but non-exhaustive list in addition to Fourdrinier formers includes a crescent former, a C-wrap twin wire former, an S-wrap twin wire former, or a suction breast roll former. The forming fabric can be any suitable foraminous member including single layer fabrics, double layer fabrics, triple layer fabrics, photopolymer fabrics, and the like. Non-exhaustive background art in the forming fabric area includes United States Patent Nos. 4,157,276; 4,605,585; 4,161,195; 3,545,705; 3,549,742; 3,858,623; 4,041,989: 4,071,050; 4,112,982; 4,149,571; 4,182,381; 4,184,519; 4,314,589; 4,359,069; 4,376,455; 4,379,735; 4,453,573; 4,564,052; 4,592,395; 4,611,639; 4,640,741; 4,709,732; 4,759,391 ; 4,759,976; 4,942,077; 4,967,085; 4,998,568; 5,016,678; 5,054,525; 5,066,532; 5,098,519; 5,103,874; 5,114,777; 5,167,261 ; 5, 199,261 ; 5,199,467; 5,211,815; 5,219,004; 5,245,025; 5,277,761; 5,328,565; and 5,379,808 all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entiret)'. One forming fabric particularly useful with the present invention -is Voith Fabrics Forming Fabric 2164 made by Voith Fabrics Corporation, Shreveport. LA.

Foam-forming of the aqueous furnish on a forming wire or fabric may be employed as a means for controlling the permeability or void volume of the sheet upon fabric-creping. Foam-forming techniques are disclosed m United States Patent No. 4,543 , 156 and Canadian Patent No. 2,053,505 , the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. The foamed fiber furnish is made up from an aqueous slurry of fibers mixed with a foamed liquid carrier just prior to its introductio to the headbox. The pulp slurry supplied to the system has a consistency in the range, of from about 0.5 to about 7 weight percent fibers, preferably in the range of from about 2.5 to about 4.5 weight percent. The pulp slurry is added to a foamed liquid comprising water, air and surfactant containing 50 to 80 percent air by volume forming a foamed fiber furnish having a consistency in the range of from about 0.1 to about 3 weight percent fiber by simple mixing from natural turbulence and mixing inherent in the process elements. The addition of the pulp as a low consistency slurry results in excess foamed liquid recovered from the fonning wires. The excess foamed liquid is discharged from the system and may be used elsewhere or treated for recovery of surfactant therefrom.

The furnish may contain chemical additives to alter the physical properties of the paper produced. These chemistries are well understood by the skilled artisan and may be used in any known combination. Such additives may be surface modifiers, softeners, debonders, strength aids, latexes, opacifiers, optical brighteners, dyes, pigments, sizing agents, barrier chemicals, retention aids, insolubilizers, organic or inorganic crosslinkers, or combinations thereof; said chemicals optionally comprising polyols, starches, PPG esters, PEG esters, phospholipids, surfactants, polyamines, hydrophobically modified cationic polymer (HMCP) or the like.

The pulp can be mixed with strength adjusting agents such as wet strength agents, dry strength agents and debonders/softeners and so forth. Suitable wet strength agents are known to the skilled artisan. A comprehensive but non- W O 211( 15/ 1 1 ) 1 1 7 1>CT/ U S2005/I> 1 2 2(i exhaustive list of useful strength aids include urea-formaldshyde resins, melamine formaldehyde resins, glyoxylated polyacrylamide resins, polyamide- epichlorohydrin resins and the like. Thermosetting polyacrylamides are produced by reacting acrylamide with dially) dimethyl ammonium chloride (DADMAC) to produce a cationic polyacrylamide copolymer which is ultimately reacted with glyoxal to produce a cationic cross-linking wet strength resin, glyoxylated polyacrylamide. These materials are generally described in United States Patent Nos. 3,556,932 to Coscia el ai. and 3 ,556,933 to Williams ei ciL, both of which are. incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Resins of this type are commercially available under the trade name of PAREZ 63 l'NC by Bayer Corporation. Different mole ratios of acrylamide/-DADMAC/glyoxal can be used to produce cross-linking resins, which are useful as wet strength agents.

Furthermore, other dialdehydes can be substituted for glyoxal to produce thermosetting wet strength characteristics. Of particular utility are the poly ami de- epichlorohydrin wet strength resins, an example of which is sold under the trade names Kymene 557LX and Kymene 557H by Hercules Incorporated of Wilmington, Delaware and Amres© from Georgia-Pacific Resins, Inc. These resins and the process for making the resins are described in United States Patent No. 3 ,700,623 and United States Patent No. 3,772,076 each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. An extensive description of polymeric-epihalohy dri resins is given in Chapter 2: Alkaline-Curing Polymeric Amine-Eni chl oroh vdrin by Espy in Wet Strength Resins and Their Application (L. Chan, Editor, 1994), herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. A reasonably comprehe sive list of wet strength resins is described by Westfelt in Cellulose Chemistiy and Technology V olume 13. p. 81 3 , 1979, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Suitable- temporary wet strength agents may likewise be incl uded. A comprehensive but non-exhaustive list of useful temporary wet strength agents includes aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes including glyoxal, malonic dialdehyde. succinic dialdehyde, glutaraldehyde and dialdehyde starches, as well as substituted or reacted starches, disacchai ides, polysaccharides, chitosau. or other reacted polymeric reaction products of monomers or polymers having aldehyde- groups, and optionally, nitrogen groups. Representative nitrogen containing polymers, which can suitably be reacted with the aldehyde containing monomers or polymers, incl des vinyl-amides, acrylamides and related nitrogen containing polymers. These polymers impart a positi ve charge i.o the aldehyde containing reaction product. In addition, other commercially available temporary wet . strength agents, such as, PAREZ 745, manufactured by Bayer can be used, alon with those disclosed, for example in United States Patenl No. 4.605,702.

The temporary wet strength resin may be any one of a variety oi water-soluble organic polymers comprising aldehydic units and catiomc units used to increase dry and wet tensile strength of a paper product. Such resms are described in United States Patent Nos. 4,675,394; 5,240,562; 5, 138,002; 5,085,736; 4,981 ,557; 5,008,344 ; 4,603, 176; 4 ,983,748; 4,866, 151 ; 4,804 ,769 and 5,21 7,576. Modified starches sold under the trademarks CO-BOND® 1 000 and CO-BOND'S) ] 000 Plus, by National Starch and Chemical Company of Bridgewater. N ..1. may be used. Prior to use. the cationic aldehydic water soluble polymer can be prepared by preheating an aqueous slurry of approximately 5% solids maintained at a temperature of approximately 240 degrees Fahrenheit and a pH of about 2.7 for approximately 3.5 minutes. Finally, the slurry can be. q uenched and diluted by adding water to produce a mixture of approximately 1 .0% solids at less than about 130 degrees Fahrenheit.

Other temporary wet strength agents, also available from National Starch and Chemical Company are sold under the trademarks CO-BOND® 1 600 and CO-BOND® 2300. These starches are supplied as aqueous colloidal dispersions and do not require preheating prior to use.

Temporary wet strength agents such as gjyox.ylated polyacrylaniide can be used. Temporary wet strength agents such glyoxylated polyacrylaniide resins are VVO 20(15/ 1 (Ιι, i 1 7 produced by reacting acrylamide with dialiyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DADMAC) 10 produce a catiomc polyacrylaimde copolymer which is ultimately reacted with glyoxal to produce a catiomc cross-linking temporary or semipermanent wet strength resin, glyoxylated polyacrylamide. These materials are generally described in United States Patent No. 3 ,556,932 to Coscia el al. and United Slates Patent No. 3,556,933 to Williams et al, both of whi ch are incorporated herein by reference. Resins of this type are commercially avai lable under the trade name of PAREZ 63 I NC, by Bayer Industries. Different mole- ratios of acrylamide/DADMAC/glyoxal can be used to produce cross- linking resins, which are useful as wei. strength agents. Furthermore, other dialdelrydes can be substituted for glyoxal to produce wet strength characteristics.

Suitable dry strength agents include starch, guar gum, polyacrylamides, carboxymethyl cellulose and the like. Of particular utility is carboxymethyl cellulose, an example, of which is sold under the trade name Flercules CMC, by Flercules Incorporated of Wilmington., Delaware. According to one embodiment, the pulp may contain from about 0 to about 15 lb/ton of dry strength agent.

According to another embodiment, the pulp may contain from about ] to about 5 lbs/ton of dry strength agent.

Suitable debonders are likewise known to the skilled artisan. Debonders or softeners may also be incorporated into the pulp or sprayed upon the web after its formation. The present invention may also be used with softener materials including but not limited to the class of amido amine salts derived from partially acid neutralized amines. Such materials are disclosed in United States Patent No . 4,720,383. Evans, Chemistiy and Industry, 5 J uly 1969, pp. 893-903 ; Egan, J. Am. Oil Chemist 's Soc, Vol. 55 (1978), pp. 1 1 8- 121 ; and Trivedi ei ΆΪ.} J.Am. Oil Chemist 's Sac, June ] 981 , pp. 754-756, incorporated by reference in their entirety, indicate that softeners are often available commerci ally only as complex mixtures rather than as single compounds. While the following discussi on will focus on the predominant species, n should be Ltnderstood thai commercially avai lable mixtures would generally be used in practice.

Quasofi 202-.TR IS a suitable softener material, which may be derived by alkylating a condensation producl of oleic acid and diethyJenetriamine. Synthesis conditions using a deficiency of all viation agent ( e.g.. di ethyl sulfate) and only one alkylating step, followed by pH adjustment to protonate the non-ethylated species, result in a mixture consisting of cationic ethylated and cationic non-ethylated species. A minor proportion (e.g., about ] 0%) of the resulting amido amine cyclize to imidazoline compounds. Since only the imidazoline portions of these materials are quaternary ammonium compounds, the compositions as a whole are pH -sensitive. Therefore, in the practice of the present invention with this class of chemicals, the pH in the head box should be approximately 6 to 8, more preferably 6 to 7 and most preferably 6.5 to 7.

Quaternary ammonium compounds, such as dialkyl dimethyl quaternary ammoni m salts are also suitable particularly when the alky] groups contain from about 1 0 to 24 carbon atoms. These compounds have the advantage of being relatively insensitive to pH.

Biodegradable softeners can be utilized. Representative biodegradable cationic softeners/debonders are disclosed in United States Patent Nos. 5,3 12,522; 5 ,415,737; 5,262,007; 5,264,082; and 5,223,096, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. The compounds are biodegradable diesters of quaternary ammonia compounds, quatemized amine-esters, and biodegradable vegetable oil based esters functional with quaternary ammonium chloride and di ester dierucyldtmethyi ammonium chlori.de and are representative biodegradable softeners.

In some embodiments, a particularly preferred debonder composition incl udes a quaternary amine component as well as a nonionic surfactant.

/ UK'. ! 1 7 T/U 20O II 1 ( 1 The nascent web is Typically dewatered on a papermaking fell. Any suitable, fell may be used. For example, felts can have double-layer base weaves, triple-layer base weaves, or laminated base weaves. Preferred felts are those having the laminated base weave design. A wel-press-felt which may be particularly useful with the present invention is Vector 3 made by Voith Fabric. Background art in the press felt area includes United States Patent "Nos. 5 ,657,797; 5 ,368,696; 4,973,5 12; 5,023 , 1 32; 5,225,269; 5, 1 82, 1 64; 5,372,876; and 5,6 1 8,61 2. A differential pressing felt as is disclosed in United States Patent N o. 4,533 ,437 to Curran et id. may likewise be utilized.

Any suitable, creping belt or fabric may be used. Suitable creping fabrics include single layer, multi-layer, or composite preferably open meshed structures. Fabrics may have at least one of the following characteristics: ( 1 ) on the side of the creping fabric that is in contact with the wet web (the "top" side), the number of machine direction (MD) strands per inch (mesh) is from 10 to 200 and the number of cross-direction (CD) strands per inch (count) is also from 1 0 to 200; (2) The strand diameter is typically smaller than 0.050 inch; (3) on the top side, the distance between the highest point of the MD knuckles and the highest point on the CD knuckles is from about 0.001 to about 0.02 or 0.03 inch; (4) In between these two levels there can be knuckles formed either by MD or CD strands that give the topography a three dimensional hill/valley appearance which is imparted to the sheet during the wet molding step; (5) The fabric may be oriented in any suitable way so as to achieve the desired effect on processing and on properties in the product, the long warp knuckles may be on the top side to increase MD ridges in the product, or the long shute knuckles may be on the top side if more CD ridges are desired to influence creping characteristics as the web is transferred from the transfer cylinder to the creping fabric; and (6) the fabric may be made to show certain geometric patterns that are pleasing to the eye, which is typically repeated between every two to 50 warp yams. Suitable commercially available coarse fabrics include a number of fabri cs made by Yoith Fabrics. ' The creping fabric may thus be of the class described m United States Patent No. 5,607,551 to Fanington et al, Cols. 7-8 thereof, as well as the fabrics described in United States Patent No. 4,239 ,065 to Trokhan and United States Patent No. 3,974,025 to Ayers. Such fabrics may have about 20 to about 60 meshes per inch and are formed from monofilament polymeric fibers having diameters typically ranging from about 0.008 to about 0.025 inches. Both warp and weft monofilaments may , but need not necessarily be of the same diameter.

In some cases the filaments are so woven and complimeiitarily serpentinely configured in at least the Z-direction (the thickness of the fabric) to provide a first grouping or array of coplanar top-surface-plane crossovers of both sets of filaments; and a predetermined second grouping or array of sub-top-surface crossovers. The arrays are interspersed so that portions of the top-sitrface-plane crossovers define an array of wicker-basket-like cavities in the top surface of the fabric which cavities are disposed in staggered relation in both the machine direction (MD) and the cross-machine direction (CD), and so that each cavity spans at least one sub-top-surface crossover. The cavities are discretely perimetrically enclosed in the plan view by a picket-hice-lineament comprising portions of a plurality of the top-surface plane crossovers. The loop of fabric may comprise heat set monofilaments of thermoplastic material; the top surfaces of the coplanar top-surface-plane crossovers may be monoplanar flat surfaces. Specific embodiments of the invention include satin weaves as well as hybrid weaves of three or greater sheds, and mesh counts of from about 10 X 10 to about 120 X 120 filaments per inch (4 X 4 to about 47 X 47 per centimeter). Although the preferred range of mesh counts is from about 18 by 16 to about 55 by 48 filaments per inch (7 X 6 to about 22 X 19 per centimeter).

O . / 1 06 1 1 7 Instead of an impression fabric, a dryer fabric may be used as the creping fabric if so desired. Suitable fabrics are described in United States Patent Nos. 5 ,449,026 (woven style) and 5,690, 149 (stacked MD tape yam style) to Lee as well as United States Patent No. 4,490,925 to Smith (spiral style).

A creping adhesive used on the Y ankee cylinder is preferably capabl e of cooperating with the web at intermediate moisture to facilitate transfer from the creping fabric to the Yankee and to firmly secure the web to the Yankee cylinder as it is dried to a consistency of 95% or more on the cylinder preferably with a high volume drying hood. The adhesive is critical to stable system operation at high production rates and is a hygroscopic, re-wettable, substantially non-crosslinking adhesive, Examples of preferred adhesives are those which include poly(vinyl alcohol) of the general class described in United States Patent No. 4,528,3 16 to Soerens et al. Other suitable adhesives are disclosed in co-pending United States Provisional Patent Application Publication Serial No. US 2005/0006040 Al, published on on January 13, 2005, entitled "Improved Creping Adhesive Modifier and Process for Producing Paper Products". The disclosures of the '31 6 patent and the '6040 application are incorporated herein by reference. Suitable adhesives are optionally provided with modifiers and so forth. It is preferred to use crosslinker sparingly or not at all in the adhesive in many cases; such that the resin is substantially non-crosslinkable in use.

The present invention is appreciated by reference to the Figures, especially Figures 1 and 2. Figure 1 shows a cross-section ( 120X) along the MD of a fabric-creped, sheet 10 illustrating a fiber-enriched, pileated region 12. It is seen that the web has microfolds transverse to the machine direction, i. e. , the ridges or creases extend in the CD (into the photograph). It will be appreciated that fibers of the fiber-enriched region 12 have orientation biased in the CD, especially at the right side of region 12, where the web contacts a knuckle of the creping fabric. The jet/forming wire velocity delta (jet velocity-wire velocity) has an important influence on tensile ratio as is seen in Figu re 2; an influence which is markedly different than thai seen in conventi onal wet pressed products.

Figure 2 is a plot of MD/CD tensile ratio (strength at break) versus the difference between headbox jet velocity and forming wire speed (fpm). The upper U-shaped curve is typical of conventional wet -press absorbent sheet. The lower, broader curve is typical of fabric- creped product of the invention. It is readily appreciated from Figure 2 that MD/CD tensiles of below 1 .5 or so are achieved in accordance with the invention over a wide range of j et to wire velocity deltas, a range which is more than twice that: of the CWP curve shown. Thus control of the headbox jet forming wire velocity may be used to achieve desired sheet properties.

It is also seen from Figure 2 that MD/CD ratios below square (i.e. below 1 ) are difficult; if not impossible to obtain with conventional processing.

Furthermore, square or below sheets are formed by way of the invention without a lot of fiber aggregates or "floes" which is not the case with the CWP products with low MD/CD tensile ratios. This difference is due, in part, to the relatively low velocity deltas required to achieve low tensiles in CWP products and may be due in part to the fact that fiber is redistributed on the creping fabric when the web is creped from the transfer surface in accordance with the invention.

In many products, the cross machine properties are more important than the MD properties, particularly in commercial toweling where CD wet strength is critical. A major source of product failure is "tabbing" or tearing off only a piece of towel rather than the intended sheet. In accordance with the invention, CD relative tensiles may be selectively elevated by control of the headbox to forming wire velocity delta and fabric creping.

Figure 3 is a photomicrograph (10X) of the fabric side of a fabric-creped web. It is again seen in Figure 3 that sheet 10 has a plurality of very pronounced 2111) ι. 24 high basis weight, fiber-enriched regions 12 having fiber with orientation biased in the cross-machine direction (CD) linked by relatively low basis weight-linking regions 1 4, which have fiber orientation biased in a direction between pileated or fiber-enriched regions .

Orientation bias is also seen in Figure 'J , especially where the CD-biased fibers of the pileated. fiber-enriched regions 12 have been cut when making the specimens in the center of region 12. To the lefl of region 12, in the linking region, il is seen that fiber is biased more along the machine direction between I 0 fiber-enriched regions. These features are also readily observed in Figure 3 at lower magnification, where fiber bias in regions 14 extends between pileated regions.

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a papermachine 15 having a 15 conventional twin wire fonriing section 17, a felt run 19, a shoe press section 16, a creping fabric IS and a Yankee diyer 20 suitable for practicing the present invention. Forming section 12 includes a pair of forming fabrics 22, 24 supported by a plurality of rolls 26, 28, 30, 32, 34. 36 and a forming roll 38. A headbox 40 provides papermakmg furnish in the form of a jet to a nip 42 between forming roll 0 38 and roll 26 and the fabrics. Control of the jet velocity relative to the forming fabrics is an important aspect of controlling tensile ratio as will be appreciated by one of skill in the art. The furnish forms a nascent web 44 which is dewalered on the fabrics with the assistance of vacuum, for example, by 'way of vacuum box 46.

The nascent web is advanced to a papermakmg felt 48' which is supported by a plurality of rolls 50, 52, 54, 55 and the felt is in contact with a shoe pi'ess roll 56. The web is of low consistency as it is transferred to the felt. Transfer may be assisted by vacuum: for example roll 50 may be a vacuum roll if so desired or a pickup or vacuum shoe as is known in the art. As the web reaches the shoe press 0 roll it may have a consistency of ] 0-25 percent, preferably 20 to 25 percent or so as il enters nip 58 between shoe press roll 56 and transfer roll 60. Transfer roll 60 W O 211(15/ 1 (10 ! 1 7 l'CT/ U S2005/(U 232( 1 may be a heated roll if so desired. Instead of a shoe press roll, roll 56 coul d be a conventional suction pressure roll. If a shoe press is employed it is desirable and preferred that roll 54 is a vacuum roll effective to remove water form the felt prior to the felt entering the shoe press nip since water from the furnish will be pressed 5 into the felt in the shoe press nip. In any case, using a vacuum roll or STR at 54 is typically desirable to ensure the web remains in contact with the felt during the direction change as one of skill in the art: will appreciate from the diagram, Web 44 is wet-pressed on the felt hi nip 58 with the assistance of pressure 1 0 shoe 62. The web is thus compactively dewatered at 58, typically by increasing the consistency by 15 or more points at this stage of the process. The configuration shown at 58 is generally termed a shoe press; in connection with the present invention cylinder 60 is operative as a transfer cylinder which operates to convey web 44 at high speed, typically 1000 fpm-6000 fpm to the crepmg fabric.

Cylinder 60 has a smooth surface 64 which may be provided with adhesive and/or release agents if needed. "Web 44 is adhered to transfer surface 64 of cylinder 60 which is rotating at a high angular velocity as the web continues to advance in the machine-direction indicated by arrows 66. On the cylinder, web 44 20 has a generally random apparent distribution of fiber.

Direction 66 is referred to as the machine-direction (MD) of the web as well as that of papermachine 15; whereas the cross-machine-direction (CD) is the direction in the plane, of the web perpendicular to the MD.

Web 44 enters nip 58 typically at consistencies of 10-25 percent or so and is dewatered and dried to consistencies of from about 25 to about 70 by the time it is transferred to creping fabric 18 as shown in the diagram. liCT/ l lS2D05/0 1 2320 5/ KM'. 1 1 26 Fabric 18 is supported on a plurality of rolls 68, 70, 72 and a press nip roll or solid pressure roll 7 such thai there is formed a fabric crepe nip 76 with transfer cylinder 60 as shown in the diagram.

The crepmg fabric defines a creping nip over the distance in which creping fabric IS is adapted to coniacl roll 60; thai is, applies significant pressure lo the web against the transfer cylinder. To this end, backing (or creping) roll 70 may be provided with a soft deformable surface which will increase the length of the creping nip and increase the fabric creping angle between the fabric and the sheet and the point of contact or a shoe press roll could be used as roll 70 to increase effective contact with the web in high impact fabric creping nip 76 where web 44 is transferred to fabric 18 and advanced in the machine-direction. By using different equipment at the crepmg nip, it is possible to adj ust the fabric creping angle or the takeaway angle from the creping nip. Thus, it is possible to influence the nature and amount of redistribution of fiber, delammation/debonding which ma)' occur at fabric creping nip 76 by adjusting these nip parameters. In some embodiments it may by desirable to restructure the z-direction interfiber characteristics while in other cases it may be desired to influence properties only in the plane of the web. The creping nip parameters can influence the distribution of fiber in the web in a variety of directions, including inducing changes in the z-direction as well as the MD and CD. In any case, the transfer from the transfer cylinder to the creping fabric is high impact in that the fabric is traveling slower than the web and a significant velocity change occurs. Typically, the web is creped anywhere from 10-60 percent and even higher during transfer from the transfer cylinder to the fabric.

Creping nip 76 generally extends over a fabric crepmg nip distance of anywhere from about 1/S " to about 2 ", typically ½" to 2". For a creping fabri c with 32 CD strands per inch, web 44 thus will encounter anywhere from about 4 to 64 weft filaments in the nip.

The nip pressure in nip 76. thai is, the loading between backing roll 70 and transfer roll 60 is suitably 20- 'J 00. preferably 40-70 pounds per linear inch (PLI).

After fabric creping, the web continues to advance along IvlD 66 where n is wet-pressed onto Y ankee cylinder 80 in transfer nip 82. Transfer at nip 82 occurs a1, a web consistency of generally from about 25 i.o about 70 percent. At these consistencies, ii is difficu lt to adhere the web to surface 84 of cylinder 80 firmly enough to remove the web from the fabric thoroughly. Typically, a polyfviny] alcohol)/polyamide adhesive composition as noted above is applied a 86 as needed.

If so desired, a vacuum box may be employed at 67 in order to increase caliper. Typically, a vacuum of from about 5 to about 30 inches of Mercury is employed.

The web is dried on Yankee cylinder 80 which is a heated cylinder and by high jet velocity impingement air in Yankee hood 88. As the cylinder rotates, web 44 is creped from the cylinder by creping doctor 89 and wound on a take-up roll 90. Creping of the paper from a Yankee dryer may be carried out using an undulatory creping blade, such as that disclosed in United States Patent No. 5,690,78S, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. Use of the undulatory crepe blade has been shown to impart several advantages when used in production of tissue products. In general, tissue products creped using an undulatoiy blade have higher caliper (thickness), increased CD stretch, and a higher void volume than do comparable tissue products produced using conventional crepe blades. All of these changes efiected by use of the. undulatory' blade tend to correlate with improved softness perception of the tissue products.

There is optionally provided a calender station 85 with rolls 85(a), 85(b) to calender the sheet if so desired. l'CT/ US 2 () / 1 - .0 W O 2005/1 1>ι'»"ί 1 7 28 When a wet-crepe process is employed, an impingement air dryer, a through-air dryer, or a plurality of can dryers can be used instead of a Yankee, Impingement air dryers are disclosed in the following patents and applications, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference: United States Patent No. 5 ,865,955 of Tlveapuaei et al.

United States Patent No. 5,968,590 of Ahonen el al.

United States Patent No. 6,001 ,421 ϊ A honen el al United States Patent No. 6, 1 1 9,362 of Sundqvist et al. 1 0 United States Patent Application No. 09/733, 1 72, entitled Wet Crepe, Impingement-Air Dry Process for Making Absorbent Sheet, now United States Patent No. 6,432,267.

A throughdrymg unit as is well known in the art and described in United States 15 Patent No. 3,432,936 to Cole et al. , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference as is United States Patent No. 5,851 ,353 which discloses a can- drying system.

Representative Examples Using an apparatus of the general class of Figure 4. absorbent sheet was prepared at various weights, crepe ratios and so forth. This material exhibited high CD stretch at low dry tensile ratios as is seen particularly in Figures 5 through 9. As will be appreciated from the foregoing discussion and the following examples, the relative basis weight of the fiber enriched regions and linking i'egions, degree of pileation, fiber orientation and geometry of the reticulum are controlled by appropriate selection of materials and fabrics, as well as controlling the fabric crepe ratio, nip parameters and jet to wire velocity delta.

Data for representative products appears in Table 1 for basesheel. and 30 Table 2 for con verted sheet.

In connection with the following Tables and Examples, the following abbreviations sometimes appear: Bath tissue Without further specification, refers tensile sireng b Stretch at break in the direction indicated Carboxy methyl cellulose Conventional Wet Press Fabric crepe or fabric crepe ratio Geometric Mean, typically tensile Modulus Dry Tensile Ratio, MD/ CD Solid pressure roll, roll 74 seen in Figure 4 Suction turning roll, roll 54 as seen in Figure 4 Ton Through Aii' Dried Refers to emboss pattern of USP 6,827,81 9 VV() 2IM)S/'I (,117 Table ] - Representative Examples 1-1 4 - Basesneet Data Basis Caliper Tensile Weight 8 Sheet Tensile Stretch Tensile Stretch Tensile Dry MD ■ MD CD CD GM Ratio lb/3000 mils/ Example ftA2 8 sbt ii/3 in % ti/3 in % p/3 in. % 1 24.8 77.1 1031 37.1 587 7.6 77S 1.75 2 25.4 76.4 1107 37.2 621 7.0 S29 1.78 3 24.6 77.9 ■ 948 37.3 539 7.4 715 1.76 4 25.6 75.9 1080 36.0 5S0 7.0 791 1.86 24.9 79.6 967 37.0 521 7.4 709 1.86 6 25.0 76.0 814 2S.9 487 5.2 628 1.67 7 12.3 58.3 725 33.4 28S 8.3 456 2.52 8 12.6 59.2 861 33.3 281 9.8 491 3.07 Q 12.4 57.5 790 32.9 297 9.9 484 2.66 12.2 56.1 857 31.7 289 9.3 497 2.97 1 ) 12.5 65.7 561 55.9 291 10.4 404 1.93 12 12.2 66.9 576 59.4 218 12.8 355 2.64 13 12.2 6S.0 771 54.9 240 14.8 430 3.22 14 ·■ 12.1 68.3 697 55.4 217 15.8 389 3.21 20.0 74,0 768 62.3 4S4 10.4 610 1.59 16 21.2 68.8 785 58.1 561 6.6 664 1.40 17 12.2 57.6 777 33.1 252 10.0 443 3.08 18 12.4 58.6 787 31.8 273 7.6 464 2.88 19 11.8 54.6 642 29.9 228 8.S 383 2.81 12.2 57.3 678 33.0 231 8.6 396 2.93 21 12.6 59.9 700 33.7 251 8.7 419 2.79 22 12.6 59.6 675 34.0 224 7.6 389 3.01 23 12.5 56.9 755 33.6 263 S.3 445 2.88 24 11.9 56.8 724 31.1 262 7.4 ■ 435 2.76 12.0 55.2 770 32.5 252 7.4 440 3.06 26 25.0 76.6 1245 46.6 769 7.0 979 1.62 27 24.4 67.7 1105 45.4 761 6.5 916 1.45 28 24.3 65.3 911 44.4 818 5.4 863 1.11 29 24.5 65.6 888 44.5 770 5.3 827 1.15 21.1 77.5 464 43.4 370 6.2 414 1.25 31 20.9 71.1 j 494 41.6 378 5.7 432 1.30 32 21.0 67.1 660 43.4 491 5.3 569 1.35 33 20.7 64.4 625 41.4 520 4.9 569 1.20 34 20.9 64,4 695 42.4 557 5.0 622 1.25 21.8 88.5 728 48.5 617 4.8 670 1.18 36 21.4 ■ 65.7 1012 48.8 S06 6.5 903 1.26 37 20.8 77.6 673 47.9 605 6.0 638 1.11 38 20.6 75.7 682 46.7 701 5.5 691 0.97 39 20.6 64.2 722 44.2 699 5.5 710 1.03 40 20.8 64.8 726 44.0 684 1 5.1 705 1.06 Ο _ΊΙΙΙ5.'ΗΗ> I I ~ li("!7l!S2IMtS/l)1 j20 Table ] - Represcntaiive Examples 1-1 4 - Baseshect Data (Cont'd! Table 1 - Representative Examples 1-1 4 - Basesheei Data fCon d) ί Basis Caliper Tensile Weight 8 Sheet Tensile Stretch Tensile. Stretch Tensile Dry MD MD CD CD GM Ratio lb/3000 mils/ Example fiA2 S sht £i/3 in % tt/3 in % e/3 in. % SO 21.7 61.5 505 34.4 610 5.8 555 0.83 SI 21.1 52.6 441 27.5 576 5.2 504 0.77 82 21.9 63.3 416 33.3 493 5.4 453 0.85 S 21.5 53.8 412 27.1 463 5.4 437 0.89 21.5 53.7 505 35.5 476 7.7 490 1.06 85 21.6 64.7 552 41.1 525 7.9 538 1.0.5 80 21.5 63.2 587 43.9 746 6.5 661 0.79 87 21.5 50.5 571 3S.2 715 6.1 638 0.80 88 21.8 59.6 456 34.2 528 5.8 490 0.87 89 21.6 58.7 539 35.3 639 5.8 587 0.84 90 21.6 60.6 612 36.9 395 7.9 492 1.55. "1 21.7 58.5 991 41.0 568 7.2 750 1.75 2 22.2 56.4 811 37.0 1051 5.0 923 0.77 93 22.9 S4.6 1199 54.9 1318 5.6 1257 0.91 - - - - - - - - 94 22.3 91.2 976 52.2 1205 5.8 1084 0.81 95 22.8 85.2 1236 53.7 1481 5.6 1353 0.83 96 22.9 84.7 1303 57.5 1553 5.9 1421 0.84 97 22.6 66.6 567 80.9 676 8.5 619 0.84 98 22.3 66.1 423 . 72.5 624 9.2 513 0.68 99 21.9 63.1 455 73.1 5)4 9.7 483 0.S9 100 22.3 67.1 538 72.5 590 9.2 563 0.91 101 22.1 65.3 1141 48.0 769 7.6 937 1.48 1.02 22.1 66.3 851 47.2 638 7.9 735 1.34 103 22.1 64.5 780 45.6 568 7.4 665 1.37 104 21.9 63.2 678 43.2 630 6.0 653 1.08 105 21.9 64.5 547 48.3 680 7.0 610 0.80 106 21.9 65.4 582 51.0 711 6.9 643 0.82 107 21.6 66.5 L 603 51.9 466 9.0 530 1.29 10S 21.9 64.6 457 48.3 591 6.7 520 0.77 109 16.7 48.0 2146 26.3 904 6.3 13 3 2.37 110 17.1 52.1 2103 27.1 83! 5.9 1322 2.53 111 21.1 65.0 692 46.6 596 6.6 642 1.16 112 22.0 57.1 2233 50.7 1658 6.9 1924 1.35 113 21.0 62.7 1452 70.4 776 11.9 1 61 1.87 114 21.6 63.5 1509 68.7 1066 10.7 1267 1.42 115 20.6 63.2 1369 69.2 948 10.8 1138 1.45 116 20:7 61.8 1434 70.4 943 10.1 1162 1.53 117 21.6 69.9 1322 70.5 964 10.6 1129 1.37 118 23.4 63.5 1673 50.2 1310 6.7 1480 1.28 Table .1 - Representative Examples 1-1 4 - Basesheet Duta (Cont'di l*CTJ,lJS2IH)5/01232») IHI: I0<> I 17 Table 1 - Representative Examples 1 -194 - Basesheel Data (Cont'd') Basis Caliper Tensile Weight 8 Sheet Tensile. Stretch Tensile Stretch Tensile Dry D MD CD CD GM Ratio lb/3000 mils/ Example flA2 8 sht g/3 in %■ g/3 in % g/3 in. % 160 19.8 60.0 6 1 40.7 611 4.9 650 1.13 161 1.9.7 59.0 761 40.9 682 4.9 720 1.12 162 20.2 60.4 729 39.2 678 5.0 702 1.08 1 3 20.0 60.3 7 1 40.6 665 5.1 720 1.17 1 4 20.1 58.1 708 36.3 645 5.3 676 1.10 165 20.0 56. S 760 36.7 663 4.9 709 1.15 1 6 19.9 57.2 684 39.3 610 5.8 645 1.12 167 21.0 63.8 810 8.0 885 6.2 846 0.91 168 20.8 66.5 758 54.1 656 7.3 705 1.15 169 21.0 66.1 696 53.0 619 7.5 656 1.12 170 20.9 66.2 637 52.6 540 7.6 586 1.18 171 21.3 63.6 641 30.1 531 4.4 583 1.21 172 21.4 78.7 580 30.8 486 4.3 530 1.20 173 21.0 65.8 570 21.4 479 4.1 521 1.20 174 20.S 71.5 978 52.5 859 6.5 916 1.14 175 20.0 57.0 714 41.5 644 5.2 678 1.11 176 20.4 65.6 560 41.2 746 4.7 647 0.75 i 77 20.2 67.7 489 41.6 648 4.7 563 0.76 17S 20.4 67.1 543 39.6 662 4.6 599 0.82 179 20.2 67.9 500 39.7 646 4.6 568 0.77 180 20.4 69.5 4.97 39.5 650 4.S 568 0.76 1S1 19.8 66.2 476 3S.5 602 4.4 535 ■0.79 182 20.5 68.8 682 42.3 665 5.4 673 1.03 183 20.3 71.0 672 41.1 668 5.7 670 1.01 184 20.2 69.8 672 42.1 613 5.3 641 1.10 185 21.0 72.4 693 42.1 670 5.9 681 1.03 186 21.0 73.2 801 43.2 752 5.6 776 1.07 187 20.6 70.0 774 43.3 746 5.9 759 1.04 188 20.5 76.6 670 60.7 644 6.9 657 1.04 189 20.3 74.2 649 57.1 671 7.0 660 0.97 1 0 20.3 77.6 765 58.6 719 7.5 740 1.07 191 20.3 78.9 764 62.5 710 7.5 736 1.08 1 2 20.5 •78.8 776 62.7 696 7.5 735 1.12 193 20.6 78.9 889 64.5 776 7.8 830 1.15 1 4 20.7 67.4 1368 43.5 1 05 5.2 1335 1.05 O 21105/10 1 Γ l'C"I7US2lill5/ni 32(i Table 2 - Representative Examples 1 5-272 - Finished Product Data O 2005/111011 !>CT/l:K2O05/l> 12320 36 Table 2 - Representative Examples 1 5-272 - Finished Product Data icon D Soilness Sensory al 450 IvIDBr CDBr GMBr MD/ Exnmple Emboss Soilness GMT BW Caliper ME' CD GMT MD% CD% Mod Mod ivJod CD 216 '819 16.3 1 .2 20. S 68.2 14 427 420 37.7 7.0 11.0 60.9 25.9 0.97 217 none 16.3 16.6 2n 7 60.7 519 540 530 50.8 6.3 10.2 86.1 29.7 0.96 ?.18 'Biy 1 .6 16.6 21.3 68.0 483 438 460 42.4 7.6 11.4 58.0 25.7 1.10 21 none lo.O 16.7 24.1 64. 593 711 649 51.0 6.K 1 ! .6 1 4.5 34.9 0.S3 220 '81.9 1 .3 16.7 22.3 71.9 547 561 554 42.8 7.9 12.8 72.0 30.3 0.97 22! none 16.3 16.6 23.3 66.0 537 5.32 534 50.9 7.1 10.5 74.9 28.1 1.01 222 '81 1 .3 16.1 20.6 70.2 426 379 402 37.4 8.5 11.4 44.7 5 1.12 223 mine 15.9 16.4 ■ 22.8 56.4 565 610 587 30.5 5.0 18.5 123.1 47.7 0.93 224 '819 16.6 16.4 20.9 68.2 440 362 39.9 25.3 5.7 17.4 63.4 33.2 1.22 225 '819 16.9 16.5 22.5 68.2 347 330 338 23.3 6.2 14.9 53.3 28.2 1.05 226 '819 16.8 1 .6 21.9 67.5 524 299 396 29.9 9.8 17.5 30.5 23.1 1.75 227 '819 16.6 16.6 21.0 68.6 443 435 439 26.6 6.0 16.7 73.2 35.0 1.02 228 '819 1 .8 16.7 20.8 60.6 429 432 430 23.3 5.5 18.5 76.4 37.6 0.99 229 •S19 16.6 16.4 20.7 68.9 373 392 382 19.3 5.6 1 .5 70.3 37.0 0.95 230 ■819 16.9 16.6 20.4 61.5 364 360 362 17.7 5.1 20.9 70.7 38.4 1.01 231 'S19 17.3 16.7 20.4 70.6 314 286 300 17.4 5.8 17.9 49.4 29.7 1.10 232 ■819 17.4 16.9 20.3 65.1 306 284 295 15.7 5.9 1 .3 48.5 30.6 1.08 233 '819 16.7 16.5 20.4 64.4 452 355 401 25.5 8.1 18.2 44.1 28.3 1.27 231 '819 16.5 16.4 20.3 69.9 4S4 385 432 27.5 7.9 1 .5 48.3 29.1 1.26 235 '819 16.1 16.2 20.4 69.1 488 497 492 27.7 6.8 17.6 72.2 35.7 0.98 236 ■819 1 .3 16.5 20.7 65.3 482 549 514 27.3 ■6.3 17.9 86.6 39.4 O.SS 237 '819 18.3 18.0 20.3 64.7 403 325 362 2Ί 9 5.7 17.6 56.8 31.6 1.24 238 '819 17.7 17.6 20.2 65.9 463 393 427 24.4 5.9 1 .0 67.0 35.7 1.18 239 '819 18.2 17.9 20.3 63.3 494 278 37] 25.0 7.8 1 .8 35.9 26.6 1.78 240 '819 17.9 IS.I 20.4 68.2 494 515 504 55.8 8.4 8.9 61.7 23.4 0.96 241 '819 17.8 17.8 20.3 65.4 467 42 445 50.6 £.7 9.2 48.8 21.2 1.10 242 '819 15.7 16.7 20.9 68.0 938 579 737 35.0 7.4 26.8 78.7 45.9 1.62 243 '819 16.1 1 .5 20.6 68.9 709 456 569 32.9 7.6 21.6 60.0 35.9 1.55 244 '819 16. S 16.9 20.1 67.1 556 434 491 30.6 6.7 ■] v 65.1 34.4 1.28 245 '819 16.3 )6.2 20.3 67.0 471 345 403 37.6 8.7 12.6 39.8 22.4 1.37 246 '819 16.4 16.2 20.4 67.S 397 438 417 34.1 7.1 11.7 61.1 26.7 0.91 247 '819 1 .7 16.7 21.2 60.9 525 422 471 34.6 7.5 15.2 56.3 29.2 1.24 24S '819 15.8 16.2 22.0 60.5 628 520 571 66.4 11.2 9.4 47.5 21.1 1.21 249 '819 16.) 16.4 22.1 59.4 636 458 540 62.9 10.8 10.1 42.0 20.6 1.39 250 B&S. 17.3 17.0 19.2 64.3 479 295 376 33.8 6.1 14.3 49.6 26.6 1.62 251 Mos.lris 17.5 17.5 20.0 59.7 517 372 439 36.7 6.2 14.1 59.7 29.0 1.39 252 B&S.M 16.6 16.5 19.8 67.0 487 359 418 27.0 5.5 17.7 65.0 34.3 1.36 253 B&S.M 16.9 16.6 1 .1 65.0 453 303 370 26.0 5.2 17.4 58.0 31.6 1.50 254 B&S.M 17.0 17.0 19.4 69.1 537 379 451 25.6 5.3 20.8 73.S 39.2 1.42 WO Willis I (Id ) !,("r/l!S2(lli5'0 ] 2.'i2(i Table 2- Representative Examples 195-272 - Finished Produci Data (coni'di C ,' l! S2IIU5/() 12320 Tissue Products Tissue Products (non-permancni wet strength grades where softness is a key parameter) made with a high solids fabric crepe process as described herein can use many of the same process parameters as would be used to make lowel products (permanent wei strength grades where absorbency is important, strength in use is critical, and softness is less important than in tissue grades.) In either category, J -ply and 2 -ply products can be made.

Fibers: Soft tissue products are optimally produced using high amounts of hardwood fibers. These fibers are no! as coarse as the longer, stronger, softwood fibers. Further, these finer, shorter, fibers exhibit much higher counts per gram of fiber. On the negative side, these hardwood pulps general ly contain more fines that are a result of the wood structures from which the pulp was made. Removing these fines can increase the numbers of actual fibers present in the final paper sheets. Also, removing these fines reduces the bonding potential during the drying process, malang it easier to debond the sheet either with chemicals or with blade creping at the dry end of the paper machine. The key benefit derived from high, fiber counts per gram of pulp is sheet opacity or lack of transparency. Since a large part of a tissue sheet's performance is judged visually even before the sheet is touched, this optical property is an important contributor to the perception of quality. Softwood fibers are usually needed to provide a mesh-like structure on which the hardwood fibers can be arranged to optimize softness and optical properties. But even in the case of softwoods, fiber coarseness and fibers per gram are important properties. Long, thin, flexible, softwood fibers like northern softwoods present many more fibers per gram than do the long, coarse, thick, stiff southern softwoods. The net result of fiber selection is that with this technol ogy, like all others, northern softwoods and low fines, low coarseness hardwoods like eucalyptus make softer sheets at a given tensile than do nort ern hardwoods and more so southern hardwoods. /5 I IK. I 1 7 i'r"l7US2l)0 /0 i 2.)2l) 9 Chemicals: Tissue sheets generally employ a variety of chemicals to help meet consume]' demands for performance and softness. Generally , it is much preferred to apply a dry strength chemical to the long fiber portion of the pulp blend than to use a refiner to develop tensile. Refining generates fines and tends to make ore bonds of higher bonding strength because refining makes the fibers more, flexible, which increases the potential for fiber-fiber contacts durin drying. On the other hand, 01 strength additives increase the strengths of the available bonds wi Lhoul increasing the number of bonds. Such a sheel then ends up being inherently more flexible even before the fabric creping step oi' the fabric crepe process. Applying a debondmg chemical to the hardwood portion is desirable so thai these hardwood fibers have a lower propensity of bonding to each other, but retain the capability of being bonded to the network of softwood fibers that is primarily responsible for the working tensile strengths of the paper. In some cases, a temporary wet strength agent can also be added along with the softwood and hardwood fibers to improve the perception of wet strength performance without sacrifici g flush ability or septic tank safeness.

Fabric Creping: This process step is primarily responsible for the unique and desirable properties of a tissue sheet. Increased fabric creping increases caliper and decreases tensiles. Further, fabri c creping changes the tensile ratios measured in the base sheets allowing sheets with equal JvID/CD tensiles or sheets with lower MD than CD tensiles. However, it is desirable for tissue sheets to exhibit equal tensiles in the two directions as most products are used in a manner independent of sheet direction. For example, "poke through" in a toilet paper is influenced by this tensile ratio along with the facl that fabric creping develops higher CD stretch, especially al lower MD/CD ratios than conventional technology. With other technologies, equal tensile material is diffi cult to run through hi gh speed processing equipment due to the propensity of tears initiated at an edge tend Lo propagate across the sheet causing a break. In conLrasl to conditional producs, fabric creped sheets of equal tensile ratio made by way of the inventive process retain the tendency to tear al ong the MD direction, thereby IKi O O 2 l> y I f it. 1 1 7 exhibiting a tendency to self-healing should an edge tear occur and begin to propagate into the sheet. This unexpected and unique property along with the resistance of the stretch put into the sheet at this step to being pulled out allows efficient, high speed, operations at tensile ratios of one or less. Further, these 5 same properties result in clean tears at perforations in the final products. Levels of fabric crepe for tissue products ranges from about 30 percent up to about 60 percent. While more is possible, this range allows for a w ide variety of quality levels with no changes in the productivity at the paper machine.

] {) Fabrics: The design o 'the fabrics is a salient aspect of the process. B ut the parameters of the fabric go beyond the size and depth of the depressions woven into it. Their shape and placement is also very important. Diameters of the strands making up the woven fabric are also important. For example, the size of the knuckle that stands at the leading edge of the depression into which the sheet will be creped determines the parameters of fabric crepe, ratio and basis weight at which holes will appear in the sheet. The challenge, especially for tissue grades, is to make these depressions as deep as possible with finest possible strand diameters, thereby all owing greater fabric crepe ratios resulting in higher sheet calipers at a given ratio. Clearly, fabric designs need to change based upon the 0 weight of the sheet being produced. For example, a very high quality, premium, 2 -ply bathroom tissue exhibiting high strength, caliper, and softness can be made on a 44M-design fabric. The 44G can also be used to make a heavier (up to 2x.) weight single ply sheet with very good results. Another property of the fabric design is to impart a pattern into the sheet. Some fabric designs can impart a very noticeable partem while others produce a patient that: seems to disappear into the background. Often times, consumers want to see the embossing pattern put into the sheet at con verting and in these instances a lesser sheet pattern might be more desirable. Some grades may be made without embossing and so a more distinct pattern imparted by the fabric creping step would help impart a "premium" look to 0 the sheet. Consumers tend to view plain sheets as lower quality, lower priced products.

Creping: Since in a typical fabric crepe process of the invention the sheet is transferred lo a YanJiee dryer for final drying, the sheel can be (and usually ISJ creped off this dryer to further enhance the softness. Tissue products benefit greath-' from this creping step thai adds caliper and softness to the sheet. It especially makes for a smooth surface on the Yankee side of the sheet. Further, since the ratio of reel crepe and fabric crepe can be varied independent of production rate (reel speedj there is considerable latitude in changing the properties of the. final sheet. Increasing the reel crepe/fabric crepe ratio decreases the two sidedness of the paper since less fabric crepe will be put in for a level of MD stretch. There less prominent "eyebrow" structures in the paper thai can affect two-sidedness. Further, increasing that ratio also increases the opacity and the perception of thickness at the same measured caliper. Often it is desirable to maintain a reasonable ratio (say 25 to 50 percent reel crepe/fabric crepe) to enhance consume]- perceptions of these "intangible" properties associated with the visual appearance of the sheet.

Calendering: By all accounts, more calendering is better insofar as a reasonable level of caliper is maiutamed in the sheet for subsequent convening. Too little caliper requires too much embossin which then degrades the overall quality. Therefore, one strategy for producing for quality toilet paper is use the coarsest fabric without putting holes in the sheet, reducing the fabric creping level so thai more of the MD stretch will come from the reel crepe portion and still get sufficient caliper prior to calendering so that at least about 20-40% of this caliper may be removed during the calendering step. These calendering levels tend to reduce the sidedness of sheets. Alternatively, a quality sheet can be made with a finer fabric but with a lower reel crepe/fabric crepe ratio. Since the finer fabric produces more, smaller, domes, more fabric creping can be used to obtain the desired caliper without unduly increasing sidedness. In most cases, reduced sidedness is obtained. In this scenario the reel crepe/fabric crepe ratio can be as low as about 5- 1 0%. Calendering can then be maximized to achieve the desired softness. This method is desirable when relatively strong fibers are used as the !JCT/ U S2I K) 5/( 1 123211 W O 2( 105/ 1 Ι ΙιΜ 1 7 42 fabric creping dramatically reduces tensile strengths and when the design of the fabric produces less than average iwo-sidedness in the sheet.

Towel Products Towel Products behave in a fashion similar to the tissue sheets to various process parameters. However, in many cases towel products utilize the same parameters but in an opposite direction with some in the same direction. For example, both product forms desire caliper as caliper relates directly to softness in tissue products and absorbency in towel products. In the following parameters, I 0 only the differences from tissue situations will be discussed.

Fibers: Towels require functional strength in use, which usually means when wetted. To reach these needed tensiles, long softwood fibers are used hi ratios about opposite that of tissue products. Ratios of 70 to 90 percent softwood 15 fibers are common. Refining can be used but tends to close up the sheet so much so that the subsequent fabric crepmg cannot "open" the structure. This results in slower absorbency rates and lower capacities. Unlike tissue products, fines can be utilized in towel sheets providing that not too much hardwood is used as this again would tend to close the sheet and also to reduce its tensile capability.

Chemicals: Surprisingly, debonders can also be used in towels ! B ut their use must be done judiciously. Likewise, refining of the fibers needs to be regulated to lower levels to keep the sheet open and a quick absorber. Therefore chemical strength agents are routinely added. Of course wet strength chemicals must be added to prevent shredding in use. But to get to high -wet tensil e levels the ratio of wet to dry tensiles must be maximized. If dry tensile levels get too high the towel sheet becomes too "papery" and is judged as lo w quality by consumers. Therefore, wet strength agents and CMC are added to increase the CD wet/dry ratio from the typical 25% up to the desired 30-35% range. Then to produce a softer— and thus a sheet perceived by consumers as more premium— sheet debonder can be added which preferentially reduces the CD dry tensile over |'( /l !S_0ll5/0 1 2320 W O 211(15/ 1 0ί> I l ~ 43 tht wet value. Debonders and softeners can also be sprayed onto the sheet after n has dried 10 further improve the tactile properties.

F bric Creping: Increasing the fabric' creping increases the absorbency 5 directly. Therefore i i is desii'abie to maximize fabric creping. H owever, FC also reduce;; tensi les so there is the balance that must be maintained. Towel sheets sometimes cannot exhibit high levels of MD stretch because of the type of dispensers that are used. In these cases FC must also be limited. Therefore, towels require a coarser fabric design on average than do tissue sheets. Further, 1 0 since these wet sheets will typically exhibit considerable wet strength, they may be more difficult to mold at the same consistency as a tissue sheet.

Fabrics: Coarse fabrics are desirable for towels in general. Two-ply towel sheets are typically made on a 44G or 36G fabric or coarser with good results, 15 although good results can be obtained with finer fabrics, particularly if the fabric crepe ratio is increased. One-ply sheets often require an even coarser fabric along with other technology to make and acceptable sheet. The longer fibers in the sheets and the higher strengths permit the use of these, fabrics and higher FC ratios before holes appear in the sheets.

Creping: Very little creping is done on towel sheets. Creping does increase caliper but does so in a maimer similar to CWP sheets. This caliper disappears when wetted and the sheet expands. Caliper from fabri c creping acts like a dry sponge when wetted. The sheet expands in the Z-direction and can shrink in the MD & CD directions. This behavior adds greatly to the perceived absorbency of the towels and makes them look similar to TAD towels. In many cases, using the serrated blades of Taurus technology in conj unction with fabric crepe process improves the absorbency, caliper, and softness of the towel sheet. The CD siiffness is reduced while (he CD stretch is increased. The higher caliper 3D produced at the blade allows more calendering and hence more sheet smoothness.

In some cases it is desirable to pull the sheet off the Yanivee dryer surface without /1 Of.1 1 7 I,CT/US2005/D1 2320 44 creping. This might be the case for washroom hand towels where softness is less important than getting more sheets on a roll. See United States Patent' No. 6, 1 87, 137 to Druecke et al. as well as copending United States Patent Application Publication Serial Nos. 2005/0217814 Al and 2005/0241787A1 filed contemporaneously herewith.

Calendering: Towel sheets benefit from calendering for two key reasons. First, calendering smoothes the sheets and improves the tactile feel. Second, it "crushes" the domes produced by the fabrics imparting more Z-direction depth to the feel of the sheet and often improve the absorbent properties at a given caliper.

Data Summary for Tissue Several paper machine process tools and emboss patterns were used to produce i-ply retail and commercial bathroom tissue. Process variables included: fabric crepe percent, reel crepe percent, softener addition level, softener type, softener location, fiber type, HW/SW ratio, calendering load, rubber and steel calendering, creping fabric style, MD/CD ratio and Yankee coating chemistry. The emboss patterns included: ' 819, M3, Double Hearts, Butterflies and Swirls, Butterflies and Swirls with Micro and Mosaic Iris. The best commercial 1 -ply bathroom tissue (BRT) prototype containing 40% Northern HW and 60% recycled fiber, at 20 lb basis weight and 450 GMT, achieved a 17.5 sensory softness. The best retail 1-ply BRT prototype containing 80% Southern HW and 20% Southern SW, at 20.5 lb basis weight and 450 GMT, achieved a 16.9 sensory softness.

The objects included determining: the process requirements that produce 1 -ply retail tissue with a sensory softness of 17.0 using Southern hardwood (HW) and softwood (SW); the process requirements that produce 1 -ply commercial tissue with a sensory softness of 17.0 using HW and recycled fiber and the effects of fiber and other process variables on sensory softness and physical properties.

W O 2(105/ HUM 1 l'( T/ ll.S2IM>5/l> I 232 The commercia] 1 -ply BRT sensory softness objective of 1 7.0 was achieved at 20 lb basis weight. Consumer testing wil l determine the effect of reduced basis weig l on consumer acceptance of the product.

Using Southern HW and SW to make J -ply retail tissue at 21 .4 lb/3000 sq. ft., the highest sensory softness achieved at 450 GMT' was 1 6.9.

Using Southern HW and SW to make 1 -ply retail tissue ai 20.5 lb/3000 sq. ft., the highest sensor)' softness achieved at 450 GMT was 1 6.9.

Using 40% H W and 60% recycled fiber (FRP) to make 1 -ply commercial tissue at 20.2 lb/3000 sq. ft., the highest sensory softness achieved at 450 GMT was 1 7.5. For all work reported here, the average senson' softness was 1 6.9.

Using 1 00% FRF to make 1 -ply commercial tissue PS at 22.1 lb/3000 sq. ft. , the highest sensory softness achieved at 450 GMT was 1 6.4.

Using Aracruz FfW and Marathon SW to make 1 -ply retail tissue at 1 9.8 lb/3000 sq. ft., the highest sensory softness achieved at 450 GMT was 1 8.3. For all work reported here, the average sensor}' softness was l S.0.

Steel/steel calendering resulted in higher caliper reduction at equivalent load and higher sensory softness than rubber/steel calendering.

Increasing calender load appeared to increase sensory softness, but calendering at higher than 65 FIT may decrease softness when using i gin HW and recycled fiber. For HW and SW, 80 PL1 may be the upper limi At constant line crepe percent, an increase in fabric crepe percent resulted in an increase in CD stretch and a reduction in CD break modulus. However, finished product sensory softness was not affected at constant GMT. 7JCT/US2005/01232<) 5/10(> 1 17 46 At constant line crepe percent, varying the amounts of fabric crepe percent versus reel crepe percent did not affect sensory softness.

The types of creping fabrics used in this study affected basesheet caliper, but did not significantly affect sensor}' softness. Coarse mesh fabrics developed higher basesheet caliper and allowed for higher calendering levels.

I -ply BRT with a 1.0 MD/CD tensile ratio (MD tensile equal to CD tensile) was equivalent in sensory softness to 1 -ply BRT with a traditional MD/CD ratio of 1 .8 (higher MD tensile). In this case, softness was dependent on GMT not CD strength or CD modulus.

Furnish Effect The fiber mixtures in Tables 3 and 4 were run at similar process conditions and 1 -ply BRT was produced. Sensory softness was measured and adjusted to 450 GMT using the strength - softness values from data in the Appendix with the formula: (sensory softness) + ((450 - GMT) * (-0.0035)). The eucalyptus and Marathon SW furnish resulted in significantly higher softness than the others.

The Southern HW and SW furnish is currently being used for retail 2 -ply tissue. It is the furnish currently used in the development of 1-ply BRT prototypes on PM#2. Replacing the Southern SW with Marathon SW slightly improved softness (Table 3). To date, 16.9 is the best sensoiy softness achieved at 450 GMT (Table 4). . The average for all work containing only Southern fiber is 16.4. Achieving the 17.0 sensory softness target at 450 GMT represents a significant technical challenge. The fabric crepe process of the invention produces a very low modulus sheet that is acceptable for retail or commercial BRT. However, because the sheet is attached to the Yankee with a fabric, there is less contact area on the dryer. During the Yankee creping process, less smoothing of the sheet surface occurs compared to conventional attachment to the Yankee with a felt.

This results in a flannel-like feel compared to the silky feel of conventional creping. The airside of the sheet, as in conventional wet-press creping, is less l' 0 l W O 201 )5/ 1 lib Π smooth than the dryerside. In a 3 -ρϊ^' produci the airside contributes to overall softness, since ii cannot be hidden to the inside as in a 2-ply product. This combination results in a lower sensory softness rating. The current approach to improving softness is to build caliper wi th a relatively coarse creping fabric, add a 5 softening agent and calender with "high" load to smooth the sheel and reduce tvvo- sidedness. The tissue (commercial) furnish, for 1 -pJy B T, will be 40% Northern HW and 60% recycled 'fiber. In the table below, FRF is Fox River recycled wet- lap. FRF is a high brightness recycled fiber. With only a few data points, 1 7.5 sensory softness is the best so far. The average, thus far, is J 6.9. Here the 1 7.0 ] 0 softness target will be less of a challenge. All of the data in the tables below are for a blended basesheet, HW and SW were usually made in separate puipers and run from different chests. The fibers are usually blended at the fan pumps creating a homogenous blend of fiber.

Table 3 Table 4 / 1 i J 7 ijC"r/u.S2oa5/oi ::i2i) Rubber/Steel Calendering To reduce the rvvo-sidedness of ] -ply BRT, a rubber roll and a conventional steel calender roll were compared to conventional steel/steel calendering. The rubber roll was placed against the dryerside of the sheet, Tables 5-7 below show the effect of calender load on basesheet caliper using rubber rolls of different hardness 's. Both rubber rolls gave similar levels of caliper reduction for equivalent calender load. The steel/steel rolls gave significantly higher caliper reduction at equivalent load as seen in the chari below. The 56 P+J roll, which is harder than the (nominal) 80 P+J roll, should have given more caliper loss at equivalent load. The (nominal) 80 P+J roll had been used previously and its actual measured P+J value was 70. Its cover thickness was 5/8 inches compared to 1 mch for the 56 P+.l roll. The calculated nip width for a 70 P+J roll with a 5/S-inch 'cover thicloiess is slightly less than for the 56 P+J roll with a 1 -inch cover. This explains the higher caliper reduction seen with the "80 P+J" roll.

Table 5 * 21 lb basesheet 05/ 1 0 1 1 7 !>CT/U 2 Several basesheets were calendered at different loads using the steel/steel rolls. The' calendering station is located before the reel on the paper machine. These basesheets were then embossed during converting into 1 -ply BRT. The chart below shows that there is little effect due to calender load on sensory softness for sheets that contained premium fiber, i.e. eucalyptus FTW and Marathon SW. For the sheets containing Northern FfW and Fox River Secondary Fiber, softness improved at 65 PLI calender load, but decreased when calender load was increased to SO PLI. The Southern sheets increased in softness slightly as calender load increased. V riable process conditions and different emboss patterns make it difficult to quantify the calendering effect on softness. However, it appears that some calendering improves softness, but over-calendering degrades softness.

Spray Softener Comparison Hercules Dl 152, TQ456 and TQ236 were compared as spray softeners added to the airside of the sheet. The table below shows the results. AA'hen adjusted for GMT, there was no difference in softness between the softeners. Hercules M-5118 was also tried as a spray softener. This material is a polypropylene glycol ether, as is lmown in the art. However, when it was sprayed on the airside of the sheet at 2 lb/T, while the sheet was on the 4-foot dryer (transfer cylinder, Figure 4), the sheet would not stick to the creping fabric. When the spray was placed on the dryerside of the sheet, either on the felt before the suction turning roll (STR) or on the creping fabric before the solid pressure roll (SPR), the sheet would not stick to the 4-foot dryer or the Yankee dryer, respectively. The other softeners did not result in adhesion problems and did not adversely affect Yankee coating at 2 lb/T. However, at 4 lb/T and higher, all resulted in unstable Yankee coatings. Results appear in Table 8.

Table 8 Sensory Softness Emboss Calender Spray Softener, at 450 GMT Pattern Rolls Softener lb/T. ' 819 SOP+J/Steel TQ236 2 1 6.1 ' S 19 SOP+J/Steel Dl 152 16.1 '819 56P+J/Steei Dl 152 2 16.2 ' 819 56P+J/Steel TQ456 2 16.1 l, ) W O 2 Ι )Ιί5/ 1 Ι)ι. Ι Π Wei -End Softener Comparison The wei-end addition of softeners 10 the thick stock (usually the HTW ) at levels up lo 1 Ib T was possible without creating Yankee coaling instabi lity . The tab le below shows a comparison of Hercules TQ236, TQ456, D l 1 52 and 5 Clearwater CS359. All were made under similar process conditions. The sieel/stee) calender rolls were loaded at 50 PL I . The ' 81 emboss pattern was used for converting. At equivalent addition rates and GMT. all of the softeners performed the same, hi the case where refining was increased to compensate for the increase in softener, which acts as a debonder. no softness improvement was 1 0 seen, in this case onl the Southern SW was refined and softener added only to the Southern HW. This was a test of the "few but strong bonds" theory. By refining only the SW for strength, a greater amount of softener could then be added to the 'HW to theoretically improve softness. Refilling only the S W (20% of the sheet) did not result in a softer sheet. Although unconfirmed by the Sensory Panel. D l 152 was chosen as file softener of choice primarily based on subjecti e evaluation of softness. Results are summarized in Table 9.

Table 9 Emboss Pattern Effect Different emboss patterns were used lo determine if a parti cular pattern interacted with the fabric creped basesheet to produce high softness. Past studies / M ',1 J 7 !'CT/1! S2 /(M 2 2(1 have shown that most emboss, patterns do not improve basesheet softness other than by strength degradation. In most cases process conditions were similar but not constant for the comparisons that follow. However, they were similar enough to determine if a significant softness improvement had occurred. The tables below show thai no significant softness improvement can be attributed to any of the patterns tested. The "Double Hearts,''' "S I S'" ( United States Patent No. 6, 827, 19) and "Butterflies and Swirls" patterns appear to give equivalent sensory softness. See Tables 10- 13 below. Direct ion ally, the "Mosaic Iris" partem gave higher sensory softness values than the "Butterflies and Swirls with Micro" pattern. Based on this limited data, the "Butterflies and Swirls with Micro" pattern is not recommended for the fabric creped basesheet. "M3 " and "Mosaic Iris" emboss patterns gave equivalent softness values, and should be considered equivalent, to those in Table 10 for constant, furnish and GMT.

Table 1 0 - Southern HW/Southern SW !> 0 5/1 m. I 17 Tab J e ll - 40% orth em FiW/60% Fox River Recycled Fiber (FRF) Table 12 - 40% Eucalyptus FiW/60% Fox River Recycled Fiber (FRF) Softness at Example Emboss Pattern GMT Sensor)' Softness 450 GMT 255 Mosaic iris 477 17.6 17.7 Butterflies and 254 Swirls., Micro 451 17.0 17.0 Butterflies and 256 Swirls, Micro 419 17.0 16.9 VVO 20(15/1 (Κ.1 1 7 KT/US2l)()5/(n 232l} Table 13 - Eucalyptus HW / Marathon SW Fabric Crepe Versus Reel Crepe Basesheet was produced at constant line crepe, but with a wide range of fabric crepe percents. Line crepe or overall crepe is calculated by dividing transfer cylinder speed (also appx fanning speed) by reel speed. From this value, 1 is subtracted. The resulting value is multiplied by 100 and is expressed as percent. For fabric crepe, transfer cylinder speed is divided by Yankee speed, because this is also the creping fabric speed, and then 1 is subtracted and multiplied by 100. For reel crepe, the Yankee speed is divided by the reel speed and then 1 is subtracted and multiplied by 1 00. Generally, the transfer cylinder- speed and reel speed were held constant and Y ankee speed varied to create the different fabric/reel crepe conditions. Basesheet data shows that the highest MD 1 5 stretch occurred at the highest reel crepe. The lowest geometric mean (GM) break modulus and highest CD stretch occurred at the highest fabric crepe. None of the sheets presented any runnability problems. Other than Yankee speed, other process variables were held constant with the exception of Yankee coating addition, which was increased for Example 56 (Table 4). In terms of physical properties, the sheets were remarkably similar for the extreme range of fabric/reel crepe ) ( , cond itions employed. Results are summarized in Table 1 4. For these trials, the transfer cylinder was a 4-fooi diameier dryer.

Table 1 All sheets were converted into finished 1 -ply BRT rolls using either no emboss pattern or a patten] as described in United States Patent No. 6,827,819. Physical data seen in the Tables 1 5 and 1 6 below was very simil ar to the basesbeet data from above. The sheets with all fabric crepe and no reel crepe (Ex. 57) had / ΚΙ Π 7 PCT/US2( )5/0 12320 56 significantly higher CD stretch and lower CD break modulus. GM modulus directionally lower. However, sensory softness d lta indicated no softness advantage for' any of the sheets (Tables 15 and 1 6).

Table 15 Converted, ' S 19 Pattern Example 212 208 210 214 Fabric Crepe, % 9 34 57 71 Reel Crepe, % 55 28 9 0 Line Crepe, % 69 71 72 71 Sensory Softness 16.2 16. 1 15.9 1 6.2 Basis Weight 20.7 20.7 22.1 21.7 8 Sheet Caliper 75.8 73.7 76.4 72.9 D Tensile 505 457 498 444 tv!D Stretch 36.8 37.7 40.0 38.6 CD Tensile 447 446 514 427 CD Stretch 6.S 6.7 6.7 7.8 GM Tensile 475 451 506 435 MD/CD Ratio 1.13 1.03 0.97 1.04 GM Break Mod 30.1 28.5 30.9 25. 1 MD Break Mod 13.7 12.1 12.5 11.5 CD Break Mod 66.1 67.1 76.5 54.9 Tabi c 1 ΰ Creping Fabric Effect Various creping fabric designs were used to produce basesheets for converting into ] -pfy BRT. Table 17 below shows basesheet data under similar process conditions. In the crepe fabric type row, the MD and CD filament counts are shown as 42X3 ] , for exampl e. The MD count is shown first. MD or CD refers to the longest knuckle on the side oi' the fabric against the sheet. M, G and E refer to weave styles. The highest uncalendered caliper was achieved with the 56X25 mesh fabrics. This allowed for higher levels of calendering while still achieving the target roll diameter and firmness in converted product. Higher levels of calendering should reduce two-sidedness and may improve softness. r.s Table 1 7 When converted using the ' S 19 pattern, the 56X25G sheets, at 80 PLI calendering, had directionally higher sensory softness MD/CD Tensile Ratio Effect The fabric crepe process has the ability to easily control MD/CD tensile ratio over a much wider range than conventional wet-press and TAD processes. Ratios of 4.0 to 0.4 have been produced without pushing the process to its limits. Traditionally, tissue products required that MD tensile be higher than CD tensile to maximize formation. For maximum softness, CD tensile was kept as low as possible. This increases the risk of failure in use by consumers. If CD tensile could be increased and MD tensile decreased, GMT would remain constant. Therefore, at equivalent overall strength there woidd be less chance of failure. The table below shows 1 -ply finished BRT data for two separate trials in which MD/CD tensile ratio was varied. Compare examples 90, 89 1 07 and 108 in Table 1 8 below. Reducing the MD/CD ratio increased both CD and GM modulus. However, sensory softness was not significantly affected when GMT was accounted for. CD strength was increased by about 1 00 grams/3 inches. This should greatly reduce the risk of failure in use. The stretchy nature of the . ( ilt ( . 5H basesheet could prevent breaks due 10 low strength. For high-speed commercial operation, perf blad type may need to be changed 10 accommodate low strength and h igh stretch.

Table 1 8 Southem HW Level The effect of Southem HW level on sensory softness is shown in Table 1 below. No softness improvement at 75% HW was observed. In both cases softness was well below the target of 1 7.0. The 80 P+J rubber/steel calendering rolls were used.

Table 19 Fabric Crepe Versus Spray Softener Process variables were manipulated to determine which, if any, would result in a finished product sensory softness of 17.0 using Southern HW and SW. One such comparison was between a basesheet with no spray softener using high fabric crepe to control strength and low fabric crepe using spray softener to control strength. Table 20 shows that softness was equivalent when adjusted for ■ GMT. In both cases softness was well below the target of ] 7.0. The 80 P+J rubber/steel calendering Tolls were used.

Table 20 Molding Box Vacuum The molding box was located on the crepmg fabric, between the crepe roll and the solid pressure roll, Sheet solids were usually between 38 and 44% at this point. The effect of vacuum on sheet caliper can be seen in the table. An increase of almost. S mils of "S-sheet caliper" was observed with 21 inches of mercury vacuum at the molding box. This is about a 1 % increase. Both rolls were cal endered at 50 PL1 with steel/steel rolls, The amount of caliper development is dependent on the coarseness of the fabric weave and the amount of vacuum appli ed, Other sheet properties were not significantly affected. Drying was affected by use of the molding box. Without a significant change in Yankee hood temperature, sheet moisture after the Yankee increased from 2.66 to 3.65%.

Vacuum pulls the sheei deeper into the creping fabric, therefore, there is less contact with the Y ankee and more drying is required 10 maintain sheet moisture. See Table 21 . in this case the Yankee hood lemperamres were not adjusted.

Table 21 Effect of Sheet Moisture, at Fabric Crepe. On Basesheet Properties By manipulating process variables, sheet moisture coming into the fabric creping pari of the process can be varied. On the papermachme employed. equiped with a 120mm shoe-press and 22 lb sheet, solids could be varied from about 34 to 46%. For the low solids condition, STR vacuum was reduced, shoe-press load was reduced and 4-foot dryer steam reduced. To dry this sheet to about 2% moisture at the reel, Yankee steam and hood temperature had to be increased. The low solids basesheet was about 270 grams/3 in. lower in GMT than the high solids sheet. See the table below. This was primarily due to the lower compaction that takes place at lower shoe-press loading. The fabric creping step rearranged the fibers to a great extent, but apparently it was not able to completely undo all of the compaction of pressing. Other physical properties, including SAT capacity, were not significant!)' different when the strength difference was taken into account. This experiment should be repeated at constant pressing by using only vacuum and steam to alter sheet solids. However, based on this experiment, the effect ol' sheet solids on basesheet properties in the range studied here is nol expected to be significant. The drying impact is significant and it would be worth while to expand the range of solids tested. Results are summarized on Table 22 below. j 62 Table 22 While the invention has been described in connection with several examples, modifications to those examples within the spirit and scope of the invention will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art. In view of the foregoing discussion, relevant knowledge in the art and references including copending applications discussed above in connection with the Background and Detailed Description, the disclosures of which are all incorporated herein by reference, further description is deemed unnecessary.

A method of making belt-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet comprising: (a) preparing a cellulosic furnish comprising a mixture of hardwood and softwood fibers; (b) providing the papermaking furnish to a forming fabric as a jet issuing from a head box at a jet speed; (c) compactively de watering the papemiaking furnish to form a nascent web having an apparently random distribution of papermaking fiber; (d) applying the dewatered web having the apparently random fiber distribution to a translating transfer surface moving at a first speed; (e) belt creping the web from the transfer surface at a consistency of from about 30 to about 60 percent utilizing a patterned creping belt, the creping step occurring under pressure in a belt creping nip defined between the transfer surface and the creping belt wherein the belt is traveling the second speed slower than the speed of the transfer surface, the belt pattern, nip parameters, velocity delta and web consistency being selected such that the web is creped from the transfer surface and redistributed on the creping belt to form a web with a reticulum having a plurality of interconnected regions of different local basis weights including at least (i) a plurality of fiber enriched regions having a high local basis weight, interconnected by way of (ii) a plurality of lower local basis weight linking regions; (f) drying the web; and (g) controlling the hardwood to softwood ratio, fiber length distribution, overall crepe, jet speed, drying and belt creping steps as well as selecting a creping belt pattern such that the web is characterized in that it has a percent cross-machine direction (CD) stretch which is at least about 2.75 times the dry tensile ratio of the web.

Claims (1)

1. 2. The method of making a belt-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet according to Claim 1 , wherein the orientation of fibers in the fiber-enriched regions are biased in the CD. 3. The method of making a belt-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet according to Claim 1 , operated at a fabric crepe of from about 10 to about 100%. 4. The method of making a belt-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet according to Claim 1, operated at a fabric crepe of at least about 40%. 5. The method of making a belt-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet according to Claim 1, operated at a fabric crepe of at least about 60%. 6. The method of making a belt-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet according to Claim 1 , operated at a fabric crepe of at least about 80%. 7. The method of making a belt-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet according to Claim 1 , operated at a fabric crepe of 100% or more. 8. The method of making a belt-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet according to Claim 1, operated at a fabric crepe of about 125% or more. 9. The method of making a belt-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet according to Claim 1, wherein the web comprises secondary fiber. For the Applicant, Sanford T. Colb & Co. C: 70092