Investigations of In-Plane Properties of Paperboard

Abstract: In-plane properties of paperboard have always been of interest to paper mechanical researchers. The reason for this is that they play a large role for the usability of the paperboard throughout its lifespan.  Tensile properties are crucial when the board is fed through printing and converting machines at high speeds in the beginning of its life. While compressive properties are essential in the later use of e.g. packages. In this thesis some methods for evaluating in-plane properties are reinvestigated.In Paper A the tensile test was investigated with focus on sample size and strain distributions. Three different multiply paperboards were examined with varying sample sizes using speckle photography. Different strain behaviour was found for different sample sizes. This difference was dependent on the length to width ratio of the sample and was caused by the activation of strain zones in the sample. These zones were of a constant size and therefore occupied different amounts of the total sample area.Paper B investigates the mechanism that causes failure in the short span compression test (SCT). Three different multiply paperboards were examined, this time chosen to have distinctly different through-thickness profiles. The boards were characterized and the data was used to simulate a SCT test with the three different boards. The simulation was conducted with a finite element model consisting of layers of continuum elements with cohesive interfaces in-between. From the model it was concluded that the main mechanism for failure in SCT is delamination that was caused by shear damage.