Study of Dispersion Characteristics of Mercerized Pulp

Mercerized pulp is widely used in the filter paper industry. But the major challenge facing users of the pulp is its difficult dispersion in water. It was found that by applying a suitable degree of beating it was possible to achieve better dispersion than the original pulp. The beating degree before and after beating was almost the same. But the properties of filter paper were greatly improved after beating, especially for the formation index and burst index. The morphology of beaten fibers was analyzed by SEM with both the freeze-drying and air drying sample preparation process. The results showed that the primary cell wall of the beaten mercerized pulp fibers were swollen and partly peeled from the fiber main body after beating, as revealed by micrographs obtained after freeze-drying. The results suggest that the improvement of the fiber dispersion in water was caused by these changes on the fiber surface.