Air-laid paper
# Air-laid paper

Air-laid paper is a textile-like material categorized as a nonwoven fabric made from fluff pulp.

## Properties

Compared with normal wet-laid paper and tissue, air-laid paper is very bulky, porous and soft. It has good water absorption properties and is much stronger compared with normal tissue.

Main characteristics are:

* Soft, does not scratch.
* Non-linting, no dust, no static.
* Strong, even when wet, can be rinsed and reused.
* Clean, hygienic, can be sterilized.
* Textile-like surface and drape.
* Can be dyed, printed, embossed, coated and made solvent resistant.

## Manufacture

Unlike the normal papermaking process, air-laid paper does not use water as the carrying medium for the fibre. Fibres are carried and formed to the structure of paper by air. The air-laid structure is isotropic.

The raw material is long fibered softwood fluff pulp in roll form. The pulp are defibrized in a hammermill. Defibration is the process of freeing the fibres from each other before entering the papermachine. Important parameters for dry defibration are shredding energy and knot content. Normally an air-laid paper consists of about 85% fibre. A binder must be applied as a spray or foam. Alternatively, additional fibres or powders can be added to the pulp which can then be activated and cured by heat.

## History

The Danish inventor Karl Krøyer is considered to be the first who commercialized air-formed paper in the early 1980s. Others developed different processes independently at about the same time. A Finnish company United Paper Mills(now UPM-Kymmene Oyj) was one of the companies developing airlaid technology in the 1980s. In the 1980s UPM formed a new company called Walkisoft Oy and also built an airlaid factory to Kotka Finland which started in 1985. Walkisoft built several plants around the world (including the world's largest airlaid-factory in Mt Holly, NC, USA) in the following 14 years before being sold to Buckeye Technologies Inc. The Walkisoft engineering team, which was responsible for the engineering and R&D of the airlaid machines, became known as Buckeye Engineering Finland and then, from 2002, as Anpap Oy, a private owned Finnish company.

## Applications

* Disposable diapers as part of the inner absorbent
* Feminine hygiene
* Industrial wipes
* Personal care products
* Table top
   * napkin
   * tablecloth
* Wet wipes
