Dewatering and structural analysis of foam-formed, lightweight fibrous materials

Abstract

This work studied the effect of the dewatering conditions on the behavior of fiber foams during dewatering and on the final structure of the formed, thick, lightweight lignocellulosic materials. The vacuum level, fiber type, consistency, and basis weight of the fiber foam were all varied. During dewatering, the time evolution of the thickness of the fiber foam in the mold was studied, and the dryness of the fiber foam immediately after dewatering was measured. The density and pore size profiles of the final dry materials was measured using X-ray microtomography (µCT).