Ultrasonic induced material compression during the gap-controlled reshaping of dry paper webs by embossing or deep drawing

The use of ultrasonic tools in paper forming results in highly dynamic mechanical alternating stress, which causes a changed material load. This work aimed to determine the influence of the ultrasonic process parameters of amplitude, ultrasonic time, and static contact pressure and to characterize the material compression during the ultrasonic-assisted forming of paperboard. To achieve this, a method was developed to determine the static, dynamic, and irreversible material compression during the gap-controlled forming of paper. The results showed that the ultrasonic amplitude, the gap pressure, and their second-order interactions had an important influence on the irreversible material compression. With the new method, the irreversible material compression could be increased up to 480% compared to the equivalent static load case.