Paper Machine

On the paper machine, the size press is used to apply surface size to dried paper.182,183 Starch is the most frequently used binder in surface sizing. Besides raising surface strength, starch also imparts stiffness, lowers water sensitivity, reduces dimensional changes and raises air leak density of the sheet. In conventional practice, the sheet passes through a pond of starch dispersion held above the nip between two large rotating cylinders. In the nip a high, transient, hydrostatic pressure is developed. Excess starch dispersion is drained from the ends of the nip. The surface size is transferred to paper by capillary penetration, pressure penetration and by hydrodynamic force during nip passage.

The quantity of starch t