Thesis
Meso-Scale Wetting of Paper Towels
(2017)
Abstract
In this study, a new experimental approach is proposed to investigate the absorption properties of some selected retail paper towels. The samples were selected from two important manufacturing processes, conventional wet pressing (CWP) considered value products, and through air drying (TAD) considered as high or premium products. The tested liquids were water, decane, dodecane, and tetradecane with the total volumes in micro-liter range. The method involves the point source injection of liquid with different volumetric flowrates, in the nano-liter per second range. The local site for injection was chosen arbitrarily on the sample surface. The absorption process was monitored and recorded as the liquid advances, with two distinct imaging system methods, infrared imaging and optical imaging. The microscopic images were analyzed to calculate the wetted regions during the absorption test, and the absorption diagrams were generated. These absorption diagrams were dissected to illustrate the absorption phenomenon, and the absorption properties of the samples. The local (regional) absorption rates were computed for Mardi Gras and Bounty Basic as the representative samples for CWP and TAD, respectively in order to be compared with the absorption capacity property of these two samples. Then, the absorption capacity property was chosen as an index factor to compare the absorption properties of all the tested paper towels.
Keywords
- Porous Materials,
- Low-density Materials,
- Paper Science,
- Liquid flow,
- Wetting,
- Absorption,
- Absorption Models and Methods,
- Paper towel absorption properties,
- Image processing and analysis
Disciplines
Publication Date
Summer July, 2017
Degree
Master of Science
DOI
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1501246506048675
Citation Information
Hossein Abedsoltan. "Meso-Scale Wetting of Paper Towels" (2017) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/hossein-abedsoltan/20/