Influences of load and temperature on groundwood pulping with well-defined tools

Groundwood pulping is an industrial process with a high energy demand, although only a minor part of the energy is used for actually separating the fibres and the rest for working them. Traditionally, the separation process employs a grinding stone having particles embedded in a softer matrix. The position and distribution of the particles have been random, causing their interaction with the wood to also be random. This makes studies of the mechanisms during the separation process difficult. Knowledge of the mechanisms in the separation process helps when designing future tools aimed at energy efficiency or tailored fibre properties. Recently, grinding surfaces having diamond particles brazed to a steel backing at fixed positions have been developed and commercialised. In this work, individual particles are not positioned at the tool surfaces. Instead, well-defined structured diamond films, soldered to a backing, are used as grinding tools. The grinding asperities of such films can be tailored to shapes that are not possible to achieve by using particles. Using this kind of tool in a lab scale grinding equipment, confirms the well-known fact that increased load or increased temperature both lead to lower energy consumption for fibre separation and longer, less damaged fibres