The influence of alternative non-wood fibres in paper substrates on line reproduction quality

Nowadays, the paper industry is faced with a global deficiency of wood raw materials and alternative sources of virgin cellulose fibres are playing an important role in the paper production. In this research, the wheat straw was used as a non-wood fibres source. For the purpose of isolating cellulose fibres, the wheat straw was exposed to alkaline treatment using two methods. Wheat fibres and recycled wood fibres were mixed in different weight rations and six types of laboratory paper substrates were formed. The printability of laboratory paper substrates made of alternative fibres was observed by analysing line reproduction. High quality line reproduction is extremely important feature for reading printed barcodes and texts. The line reproduction quality, based on three line attributes: blurriness, raggedness and width, was analysed on laboratory paper substrates and compared against a control paper substrate made only of recycled wood fibres.