papermaking - Students, Britannica Kids

By A Mystery Man Writer

Last updated 08 Jul 2024

The papermaking process begins with sending logs (1) through a barker (2), and grinding them into chips (3). The chips move through a screen (4) and are mixed with chemicals before being fed by a conveyor (5) into a digester (6). Here the fibers are cooked to soften the lignin adhesive that binds the fibers together. To separate the fibers from residual materials, the pulp is passed through a blow tank (7), washers (8), a screen (9), cleaners (10), and thickeners (11). After bleaching (12) and refining (13), the fibers are combined with pigments, dyes, sizings, and resins (14). The paper is formed at the wet end of the Fourdrinier machine (15-16). As pulp flows onto a moving wire screen, fibers mat and form a continuous sheet. Rollers press the water out of the sheet before it is dried (17-18) and wound into rolls (19).