Details:
Summary:
Laboratory handsheets with a furnish varying from 100% wheat straw pulp to 100% pine kraft pulp were made. Roughness in the range of 6.1-6.2 microns was achieved by hard nip calendering to obtain surfaces characteristic of linerboards. During the calendering, it was found that less energy is needed to calender wheat straw handsheets than softwood ones to achieve the same roughness values. Handsheets were taped together and flexo printed using a Mark-Andy flexo press and water-based ink. Reflective density slightly increased with a higher content of wheat straw, but no statistically significant differences were found. Also, the gloss and mottle did not show statistically significant differences within tested furnishes of wheat straw and softwood liners. Slightly better print uniformity was found at image detail of samples with increasing wheat straw content. The measured data confirmed that wheat straw is an excellent fiber source for linerboard from the point of view of printability.