A review of the application of dry strength additives for improving the strength of packaging paperboard

Continuous improvement in performance is essential for the success of the paperboard industry. Strength improvement has always been an important consideration for papermakers. Strength increasers are critical components for manufacturing of paperboard. These materials provide not only the required strength quality to paper products but also can improve the machine productivity and process efficiency. A variety of strength improver chemicals are available in the market, including natural polymers (starch, CMC) and synthetic resins (PAM, PAE). Choosing a strength aid depends on a number of factors, including their effectiveness (or impact on a specific quality parameters), the cost, the effect on machine runnability and productivity, convenience of use, product availability and shelf life. In this paper, the use of high levels of anionic starch which is then fixed using a combination of PAC/poly DADMAC and also other additives to improve resistance of paper and paperboard was studied.