Effect of Sizing Agent Type and Amount on the Properties of Paper Containing GCC Filler

This research was targeted to compare the effect of Alkyl Ketene Dimer (AKD), cationic rosin and soap rosin sizing agents on the properties of papers containing Ground Calcium Carbonate (GCC) fillers. Therefore, treatment of ChemiMechanical Pulp (CMP) with 300±25 mL. CSF was firstly conducted by applying sizing agents AKD, cationic rosin and soap rosin at levels of 0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 percent based on O.D. fiber weight. Afterwards, GCC mineral fillers and finally CPAM retention aid were added to the pulp suspension respectively at constant level of (25%) and (0.3%) based on OD weight of papers. Then, fabrication of standard hand sheets with 60±3 g/m2 basis weightand evaluation of its different properties including: water absorbency, strengths and optical characteristics was done according to the TAPPI standard methods. The results have shown that cationic rosin was more effective than other sizing agents in the presence of GCC filler. Since in roughly equal water absorbency and strengths, papers made from pulps treated with cationic rosin were detected meaningful higher optical properties than that of papers sized with AKD and soap rosin sizing agents.