The impact of molded pulp product process on the mechanical properties of molded BCTMP

Abstract This study was carried out using bleached softwood Chemi-Thermo-Mechanical Pulp to evaluate the influence of Molded Pulp Products’ manufacturing process parameters on the finished products’ mechanical and hygroscopic properties. A Taguchi table was done to make 8 tests with specific process parameters such as moulds temperature, pulping time, drying time and pressing time. The results of these tests were used to obtain an optimized manufacturing process with improved mechanical properties and a lower water uptake after sorption analysis and water immersion. The optimized process parameters allowed us to improve the Young’ Modulus after 1h immersion of 58% and a water uptake reduction of 78% with the first 8 tests done.