Mid Sweden University

Characterization of the base sheet properties and coating layer properties was performed by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of paper cross-sections and image analysis. Frequency analysis was used to study how the base sheet properties affect coating thickness uniformity at different length scales. Samples analysed were Lightweight Coated (LWC) base sheets blade-coated on only one side with coat weights of 12 and 22 g/m2. A number of images were taken in sequence giving a total length of more than 6 mm. The results showed that the surface height variations of the base sheet control coating uniformity in the entire examined length scale, but with different mechanisms. At short wavelengths the coating mechanism was “level coating” where the coating suspension fills small pores (“levels”), whereas at longer wavelengths the coating suspension follows the surface profile and “contour coating” becomes more prevalent. In other words, the level- and contour-coatings represent the coating mechanisms in different length scales. Surface height variations can be explained by base sheet thickness only at short wavelengths, but at all other wavelengths the surface height variations were very much independent of the base sheet structure properties measured.

Base sheet structures, such as surface roughness and mass density distribution (formation), have been known to affect coating uniformity. However, the literature is not necessarily consistent in determining which structure controls coating uniformity. This study employed scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and image analysis, combined with autocorrelation and frequency analyses, to investigate the fundamental mechanisms of coating and to resolve some of the controversies in the literature regarding the base sheet effects. The results showed that coating thickness variation resembles a process of random deposition with leveling. At small length scales (in the size of fiber width), leveling causes a very strong dependence of coating thickness variations on the surface profile of the base sheet, whereas at larger length scales, coating thickness variation diminishes in its intensity by the same leveling effect, but still retains a significant correlation with base sheet structure, particularly formation. Frequency analyses clearly showed that the discrepancies in the results for the base sheet effects in the literature are due to the length scales used in the experiments, that is, the sampling area and the resolution of the measurements.

We have developed a new method for characterizing microstructures of paper coating using argon ion beam milling technique and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The combination of these two techniques produces extremely high-quality images with very few artefacts, which are particularly suited for quantitative analyses of coating structures. A new evaluation method has been developed by using marker-controlled watershed segmentation technique of the secondary electron images. The high-quality secondary electron images with well-defined pores makes it possible to use this semi-automatic segmentation method. One advantage of using secondary electron images instead of backscattered electron images is being able to avoid possible overestimation of the porosity because of the signal depth. A comparison was made between the new method and the conventional method using greyscale histogram thresholding of backscattered electron images. The results showed that the conventional method overestimated the pore area by 20% and detected around 5% more pores than the new method. As examples of the application of the new method, we have investigated the distributions of coating binders, and the relationship between local coating porosity and base sheet structures. The technique revealed, for the first time with direct evidence, the long-suspected coating non-uniformity, i.e. binder migration, and the correlation between coating porosity versus base sheet mass density, in a straightforward way.

Non-uniformities in the coating layer, such as porosity variations and binder distributions, are known to affect print uniformity and barrier properties. However, in the literature the results are rather scarce or sometimes conflicting.

We acquired high quality images of coated paper cross sections using field emission scanning electron microscopy in combination with a new argon-ion-beam milling technique to directly observe and analyse the coating microstructures in relation to underlying base sheet structures.

The results showed that coating porosity varied with mass density of the underlying base sheet for the relatively bulky clay/GCC coating, whereas for the more compact clay coating, the effect was small. Areas with more fibres in the base sheet were more compressed by calendering, resulting in a decreased coating porosity. A unique binder enriched layer of less than 500 nm thickness was found at the coating surface as well as at the coating/base sheet interface.

    We studied the surface evolution of coating by using a random deposition model of particles. In order to capture the real coating structure development, we included a volume exclusion effect to represent particle-particle interaction, and a levelling effect to represent surface tension effect. In this study we investigated three cases: (1) random deposition on a flat surface, (2) random deposition on a flat surface with levelling, and (3) random deposition on a rough surface with levelling.

When plotting in logarithmic scale, the roughness initially increased linearly with average number of particles deposited for all three cases but reached saturation after a certain amount of deposited particles. The result resembles a ballistic deposition process where agglomerates are developed over the surface due to lateral growth. Even a flat, uniform surface creates roughness during random deposition of particles.

Autocorrelation analysis showed that the correlation length continues to increase with the number of particles deposited. The aggregated structures were easily seen in the autocorrelation function.

Experimental and simulated data on the rough surface were compared and they were in agreement, confirming that the coating process is essentially a random process with some local correlation in the length scale of a typical fibre width. 

 Non-uniformities within the coating layer, such as porosity variations and binder distributions, are known to affect print uniformity and barrier properties. However, in the literature the results on coating microstructures are rather limited or sometimes conflicting.We obtained high quality images of coated paper cross sections using field emission scanning electron microscopy in combination with a new argon ion beam milling technique to directly observe and analyse the binder and pore distribution. This technique produces high quality images that allow microstructure characterisation of the coating layer.The binder distribution measurements showed that the binder is almost exclusively filling up the small pores, whereas the larger pores are mainly empty and depleted of binder.