A partial explanation of the dependence between light scattering and light absorption in the Kubelka-Munk model

Abstract The Kubelka-Munk scattering and absorption coefficients of a set of paper samples are assessed using reflectance measurements in d/0 geometry. The coefficients display the widely studied dependence between light scattering and light absorption, since the light scattering coefficient decreases in regions of high absorption. It is shown using general radiative transfer theory that part of this dependence can be explained and eliminated by taking into account the geometry of the d/0 instrument and the single scattering anisotropy, thus capturing the angular variations of the light reflected from the samples. These findings allow the papermaker to better predict the reflectance from mixtures of pulps, fillers, dye, and FWA, and to better evaluate bleaching efforts.