Bamboo Fiber Tissue Web Bulk and Durability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Tissue products face a challenge in balancing softness and durability, as reducing average fiber length to enhance softness typically decreases durability, and existing alternatives like bamboo fibers result in less soft and less durable products due to their short fiber length and high fines content.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating bamboo fibers into a through-air dried tissue web, particularly in a non-skin contacting layer, to increase bulk and durability without compromising softness, by replacing high average fiber length wood fibers like Northern Softwood Kraft fibers, and optimizing fiber distribution to maximize softness and durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If average fiber length is reduced to enhance softness, then surface softness is improved, but durability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The tissue product is divided into multiple layers with different fiber compositions. The first layer contains shorter fibers for softness, while the second layer contains longer fibers for durability. This segmentation allows each layer to optimize for its specific function without compromising the other.
Solution Approach 2:
Different layers of the tissue product are assigned different fiber length characteristics tailored to their specific functional requirements. The surface layer uses shorter fibers for softness, while the inner layer uses longer fibers for strength, creating local optimization of properties.
2Volume of stationary object
If bamboo fibers are used to replace wood fibers to increase bulk, then sheet bulk is improved, but stiffness increases and softness decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Bamboo fibers are selectively placed in the second layer of the tissue web where they contribute to bulk and durability without directly contacting the user's skin. The first layer maintains softness with wood fibers, while the second layer provides bulk with bamboo fibers.
Solution Approach 2:
The tissue web combines bamboo fibers with wood fibers in a layered structure. The composite material approach allows the bamboo-wood blend to achieve properties that neither material could provide alone, specifically high bulk with maintained softness.
3Reliability
If bamboo fibers are used to replace wood fibers to increase durability, then Tear Index and Burst Index are improved, but stiffness increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tissue product is segmented into layers where bamboo fibers providing high durability are confined to the inner second layer, while the outer first layer uses more compliant wood fibers. This segmentation allows durability enhancement without excessive stiffness.
Solution Approach 2:
The layered composite structure of bamboo and wood fibers creates a material system where the bamboo-wood interface and differential layer properties allow the tissue to achieve high durability metrics while maintaining acceptable stiffness through the overall structure.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The use of bamboo fibers in a through-air dried tissue web achieves improved bulk and durability without increasing stiffness or decreasing softness, even when replacing up to 75% of Northern Softwood Kraft fibers, resulting in tissue products with enhanced Tear Index, Burst Index, and Durability Index.
Implementation Method 1
the sheet is dried while in contact with the fabric by blowing hot air through the fabric until the consistency is 40 percent or higher
Implementation Method 2
a large steam heated cylinder called a Yankee dryer
Implementation Method 3
The sheet is removed from the Yankee surface by a doctor blade in the creping process
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
The disclosure provides tissue webs, and products incorporating the same, where the webs comprise wood and bamboo fibers. More specifically the disclosure provides soft and durable through-air dried tissue webs comprising at least about 10 percent bamboo fiber by weight of the web. In the through-air dried tissue webs of the present disclosure, bamboo typically replaces high average fiber length wood fibers, which increases the bulk of the through-air dried web without negatively effecting softness or durability.