Spruce wood was cooked with four kinds of sulfite cooking liquors (pH 1.8, 4.0, 7.0 and 9.8), respectively, and pulps were prepared by defiberizing slices (thickness, 90-120 μm) of cooked woods (cooked yield, approximately 85%). Defibration was done in water by means of a blender.
The plane, exposed when the cooked wood was ruptured by the shearing force, was observed by an electron microscope and also compared with the fiber surface of pulp (Photo. 1-11). Furthermore, film-like fragments were found in the filtrate after the defibration of cooked wood (Photo. 14-23).
The results obtained are explained as follows ;
(1) When the sulfite cooked wood was subjected to the defibration, a part of middle lamella was peeled from the cell wall, together with separation of individual fibers.
(2) In the case of bisulfite, neutral sulfite and monosulfite cooked woods, the peeling occurred within the middle lamella and the fiber surface of pulp thus obtained was still covered with the middle lamella.
(3) In the case of acid sulfite cooked wood, the peeling occurred at the boundary region between the middle lamella and the secondary wall, and the secondary wall was exposed as the fiber surface to a considerable extent.
(4) Based on the above results, the peeling diagram of the middle lamella is proposed as shown in Fig. 3.
(5) A part of pit border had a tendency to be peeled from the fiber surface by the defibration and to give a circular fragment in the filtrate (Photo. 23, 26-28). This phenomenon was characteristic in the defibration of acid sulfite cooked wood.
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