The transverse and longitudinal elastic constants of pulp fibers in paper sheets

• Cellulose fibers are a major industrial input, but due to their irregular shape and anisotropic material response, accurate material characterization is difficult. Single fiber tensile testing is the most popular way to estimate the material properties of individual fibers. However, such tests only determine the longitudinal modulus of the fiber. Here, we compare sheet testing, micromechanical testing, and nanoindentation as methods to extract the elastic material properties of the individual fibers. We show that nanoindentation can be used to determine both the longitudinal and the transverse elastic modulus using only two indentations, additionally enabling the measurement of fiber properties in-situ inside a sheet of paper where the complete process history is captured. For the longitudinal modulus, the accuracy is comparable for larger indents, but with an increase of scatter of unknown origin as the probe size is decreased using an atomic force microscopy tip.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik -- Pappers-, massa- och fiberteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering -- Paper, Pulp and Fiber Technology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Hållfasthetslära

Solid Mechanics

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

rap (subject category)