Determination of paper stiffness and anisotropy from recorded bending waves in paper subjected to tensile forces

Experiments and theory for bending wave propagation of paper sheets in tension are presented. An all-electronic pulsed TV holography technique is used to record the bending wave field initiated by a laser pulse. A theory for bending wave propagation in tensile-loaded paper is developed. The bending waves are influenced by mechanical properties such as density, thickness, bending stiffness, anisotropy and also by tensile forces in the paper. The paper stiffnesses are determined by matching the measured deformation field with the calculated theoretical field. The results show that the bending wave pattern is strongly influenced by the tensile force. For a non-destructive on-line measurement of, e.g. stiffnesses and anisotropy in the paper machine the tensile force must be considered.