A thorough understanding of the structure of a paper sheet is a prerequisite for linking the behaviour of a product to the phenomena occurring in the production process. The study of sheet structure is a valuable tool both in the development of new products and in troubleshooting production processes.
The S3Lab
Innventia has collected all measurement techniques which contribute to the understanding of sheet structure in one framework: S3Lab – The Innventia Sheet Structure Laboratory.
The S3Lab is a virtual laboratory and a set of handling routines to help our customers to make the most of the sheet structure know-how at Innventia. The S3Lab measures local variations in the structure and properties of paper and board samples. We aim at providing measurement on A4-size samples (210 x 297 mm²) with as high a spatial resolution as appropriate for each individual analysis.
The S3Lab has developed routines and software to investigate correlations between different paper properties. Thickness, mass, density, compressibility and surface roughness are some examples of properties for which we can provide two-dimensional maps.
Sheet splitting for 3D mapping
Sheet splitting is the operation of dividing a sheet of paper in thin layers parallel to the plane of the sheet. We have developed a splitting technique applicable to samples as large as A3 (420 x 297 mm²) and developed a series of measurement methods for characterizing the individual split layers. When we produce a 2D map of
local fibre orientation for each layer, we are providing a 3D description of the in-plane fibre orientation.
