Corrosion and wear of plates in the production of refiner mechanical pulp

• Main Author: Rideout, David Walter George
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 1984
• Subjects: Waldron; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/7973/; https://research.library.mun.ca/7973/1/Rideout_DavidW.pdf; https://research.library.mun.ca/7973/3/Rideout_DavidW.pdf

Disk refining has become an increasingly important process for the manufacture of mechanical pulp for the production of newsprint and other "groundwood" speciality papers. The history of the development of chip refiners beginning with their use in pulp property modifications in the early 1900's and their use for semichemical and mechanical pulping processes at present is briefly renewed. -- Disk refining, as a pulping process, has in spite of its promise to replace chemical pulp not been without its technical difficulties; the major ones being the high energy inputs required as compared to stone groundwood, variations in quality and inadequate plate life. Each of the variables associated with these difficulties is reviewed in an extensive literature review. -- Since refiner plate wear and refiner plate corrosion both involve loss of plate material and are critical factors in plate life, the review of literature was extended to cover these variables. Although literature on wear and corrosion of refiner plates is extensive, little was found directly pertaining to refiner plate life. Because of this deficiency of information in both these important areas, experimental work was conducted on both the wear and corrosion of Ni-hard refiner plates. -- The wear of refiner plates run on a Sprout Waldron 42-1B refiner at Price (Nfld.) Pulp and Paper Company Limited, Grand Falls, Newfoundland, was monitored using a systems analytical approach coupled with standard v metallurgical techniques. The refiner plates after use were found to have worn in sharply defined annular zones at randomly defined radii. In each zone the wear was asymmetrical, with one of the opposing plates wearing more than the other. The location of the wear zone and the disk experiencing wear (rotor or stator) were found to be random. -- At first, it was believed that this unusual wear pattern was the result of plate clashing and/or damage by foreign material. Metallurgical and electrochemical studies of the plates within the framework of systems analysis ...