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Back to Basics, Part 1: Corrugating

as appeared in Flexo & Gravure Asia Pacific January, 2001 by Patrick Mafrici, Consultant / Technical Specialist for Brently Engineering

At the beginning of a new millennium it is important to look back at what the corrugator industry has achieved during the last sixty years. The quality of board has improved dramatically. Total grammage has been reduced even though ECT and FCT values have been increased. Printing has reached a level where sometimes it is impossible to recognise whether it is a litho-laminated product. In this ever-changing world, nothing remains the same for long. New profiles for corrugator rolls, faster speeds, large format, process printing, etc. All of this may be acceptable to the hardened experienced manager and operators; unfortunately, this industry has a fairly substantial human resources turnaround. Training in many cases has been neglected or is just passed on in a SIB fashion that (Sitting by Nellie} or you watch the other worker and learn from him. With this in mind, we feel that it is about time that we get... Back to basics. Lets start looking at what is the heart of a corrugator factory. The answer, of course, is always PEOPLE, but just for this exercise lets leaves the human factor out and concentrate purely on Equipment and its function. The heart of every factory is the corrugator and if we focus closer, the single facer is the main focus and within the single facer the corrugator rolls are the most important factor if we want to produce board of good quality and strength. Over the years, corrugator rolls have come a long way from the scraped, uneven, paperwasting, short lived type, to the modem precise long lasting and most importantly paper saving types. Why are the corrugator rolls very important? Because, together with paper, steam, starch, they begin the important facet of creating the single-faced web: Whatever quality we produce here will influence the quality of the finished product, that is the shape, strength and printability of the board.

'Let's have a closer look at how each of these factors participate in creating the corrugator board and some of the problems associated with them.

Of course, a well-built solid and well-engineered single facer will help the production of a good quality board with minimal breakdowns, very little vibration and precise adjustments. However, in many cases we have to do with what we have and improve it to make it work to the best of its capabilities. The biggest factor in the single facer is the corrugator rolls. There are various types, however the most utilized are: nitride or induction hardened, chrome, tungsten coated. From past experience, we know that the wearing factors are as follows:

Remember that the area where the rolls wear off the most is the tip, due to the fact that the medium is traveling over the flute at a higher speed than the rolls, thus creating friction. What should we know about corrugator rolls? The first and most important factory here is the profile.

Why is this important?-The profile will dictate the strength, and most importantly the TAKE-UP Factor. What is the take-up factor? That is the relation of medium used to the liner. For example, if we look at one meter of board produced in B-flute.

Any changes in the profile will change the take-up factor, thus in many cases costing us big money in extra paper (medium) being given away to the customers at no extra cost. If we consider the wearing factor of course the long lasting rollers will offer two advantages: I. Consistent board caliper -strength 2. Saving in

medium used Typically, when we order corrugator rolls we take into consideration the wearing factor and we build that factor on top of the minimum height required. For example, let's say our minimum requirement for a typical B-flute is 2.50. When the rolls are manufactured (chrome) they will be manufactured with a flute height of 2.65.

That means that when the rollers are new we are giving away extra medium paper to the customer and generally after three refurbishments we throwaway the roller since the diameter has been reduced to an unusable level. The other option available now is tungsten coating, due to the low level of wear on the tip -0.02 to 0.04. This allows us to manufacture the rolls with a lower flute height.

This of course minimises the usage of medium and offers us very consistent caliper strength. A very important factor of the profile is the tension factor. By minimising the tension factor we are not stressing the medium so allowing the paper to retain its strength. Some machine manufacturers over the years have spent lots of time and money investigating how to reduce this tension. For example, some manufacturers have used a larger diameter upper roller over a smaller diameter bottom roller in order to reduce the labyrinth thus reducing tension build-up in the medium. Another important factor to consider is the fact that in many cases we don't always utilise the full size of the machine.

For example, if we have an 1800 mm wide machine, most of the time we will be running paper between 1100 mm to 1500 mm. This of course will wear off the rollers quicker in the centre, giving us two problems: 1. When we try to run the full size (1800), we find that the line is cut at the edges due to the extra pressure; 2. We also have to increase the amount of starch being used to compensate for the gap between the corrugator rolls and the starch applicator roll.

This influences the shape of the board (WARP) as the more starch we apply; the more water goes into the paper. Starch on average is 80% water, and MORE WATER = MORE WARP. The Pressure Roll: The pressure roll is one item that, even though it is a very integral part of running a single facer, most people forget about. There are very few things that can go wrong with the pressure roll but one item is the key to making sure that the equation works. That is CROWN. What is a crown and why do we need it in some machines? Depending on the type of equipment and type of rolls, some have a crown. The centre circumference is slightly bigger than the edges, so that when we apply pressure at the edges we end up with pressure right across. The reverse could happen if no crown was present. (Not every type of machine uses CROWN.) The other important factor is to make sure that the steam condensation system is working and the right temperature is available. The temperature should be within 170 to 190 Celsius. In many cases, the best option is to replace or regrind the pressure roll to suit the corrugator rolls. Starch Applicator Roll: This item in many cases is really the forgotten one. Yet this is the item that will apply the starch to the tip of the flutes, so it is a very vital part of the system. In many cases, this roll has been in contact with the corrugator roll and damage has occurred, especially at the end. This of course means that the starch application is uneven and of course, this spells WARP. This starch roll should of course run within 0.005 to 0.010 of TIR total indicated run out. Instead in many cases the bearings are worn or the journals are worn, again applying uneven amount of starch, which translates into warp.

Paper: There are many different types of paper available: Kraft, top Kraft, SP, recycled, semi-chemical, clay coated, etc. However, in this case, let's have a look at this effect the single facer and the corrugator rolls. The biggest problem faced by most operators on the single facers in Asia are wet streaks, un- even moisture, uneven tension, loose edge. Of course, if we could provide paper with consistent moisture levels, even tension, and no wet streaks, the job of producing good board would be made simpler. However, the reality is that in many cases, we try to combine liners with 6-8 percent moisture variation and then we wonder why we create warped board, when we really should be working with no more than 1 percent variation. One important factor here is to remember that Kraft paper generally needs more heat and recycled paper requires less heat and is more absorbent. Sometimes, depending on the moisture content in the medium, we need to introduce steam on the medium to plasticise the paper in order to facilitate the forming of the flutes. In many cases operators refuse steam purely because the system does not have controls to shut the steam off in case the single facer stops. Of course, if the single facer stops and steam keeps flowing, the result is that the medium breaks off, which in turn means more work for the operator to re-feed the medium into the single facer. Nobody likes more work. So in many cases those showers have not been in operation for years.

Have a look at our Back to Basics Part 11: Corrugated Basics, Flexo & Gravure, March 2001, the first of our technical articles by Patrick Mafrici.

About the Author... Patrick Mafrici is Consultant for Brently Engineering Pty. Ltd., Sydney, Australia. Patrick travels extensively and together with Don Daisley are responsible for most Brently talks and seminars across the Asia Pacific.

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