THERMAL CONTACT CONDUCTANCE OF A COATED PAPER/METAL INTERFACE

A better understanding of the parameters associated with heating of the coated paper during drying process would permit a more accurate design and control of the process to achieve an improved coated paper quality and printability. Following the application of the coating, the coated paper passes through non-contact dryers (i.e. infrared dryers and impinging hot air dryers). When the coating has coalesced, further drying is achieved with steam-heated, contact dryers. One parameter affecting the heat transfer from a metallic dryer drum to the coated paper is the thermal contact conductance at the interface between the coated paper and the drum. In this paper, the thermal contact conductance of a coated paper/metal interface is determined and compared to that of the uncoated paper. Two types of base stock and one type of coating are considered. The thermal contact conductance values are given as a function of the applied interface pressure.