Research Area:
Forest Service Strategic Goal 6: Conduct mission-related work in addition to that which supports the agency goals.
SPA: Resource Management and Use
Paper is thought to consist of fibers that are primarily oriented in the plane of the sheet, and effectively present as laminated layers in the z-direction. A presentation at a recent conference suggested that under some manufacturing conditions, fibers would tip in the paper sheet and acquire a slight z-direction component of orientation as well. Testing in FY-07 has demonstrated that some machine made papers do show evidence of z-direction fiber orientation just as predicted and provides several testing protocols that have succeeded in detecting it. Z-direction orientation was found to reduce sheet tensile in one sample by 3% but to increase tensile stiffness by 6% and out of plane shear strength by 42%.