Yes! It Does Matter!, 1994 Process & Product Quality Conference Proceedings

J. C. Abbott

Wet tensile strength is an important attribute of papers with regard to processing, end use, or both. The use of various additives to increased wet strength to meet the needs of specific grades of paper is well known. Measurement of wet tensile strength of papers using consensus standardized test methods of TAPPI and ASTM dates to the early 1940’s. Because of questions that arose during the most recent revision of TAPPI Test Method T 456, wet tensile breaking strength of paper and paperboard, a more thorough review of standardized wet tensile strength procedures was undertaken. Preliminary data and information developed during this review were shared with the Physical Properties Committee at the Fall Conference in 1993, and were the basis for decisions made in reviewing T 456. This paper expands on this preliminary work, and emphasizes key principles required to understand differences among various standardized wet strength test methods and what must be done to achieve reliable, reproducible wet tensile strength measurements.