FIBER CEMENT & FIBER MORPHOLOGY
Fibercement, invented in the 19th century, combined cement and asbestos rock fibers to create strong thin boards which gained preference for cladding and roofing due to its low cost, fire-resistance, water tightness, light weight.
By mid 1980s asbestos fibers were mostly banned worldwide due to health issues, being replaced by pulp fibers, which represent ca. 10% of fibercement blend and which are responsible for reinforcing the board as well to retain the cement, mica and fillers within the production stage while allowing proper dewatering in the fibercement board machine.
Increasing prices for virgin pulp and environmental concerns brought recycled fibers into the market and pulp users must nowadays deal with unpredictable variation into pulp quality while keeping production volumes, product quality and profitability within planned targets.
MORFI is the perfect tool for quick
Accurate and objective assessment of fiber quality, being an unequable testing solution for several key areas in your mill:
- control of incoming materials
- control of pulp refining – optimization of refining energy & survery of wear/lifetime of refining discs
- control of performance of dispersers, pulpers, screens, fractionators
Savings achieved into cost of materials, energy consumption, production losses due to quality issues, laboratory staff and downtime with the use of fiber morphology results ensure quick return on investment.
From a pulp furnish the entire fibrous population is analyzed and accurately characterized by MorFi fiber length, width, coarseness, macrofibrilation, curl, fines, kink, shives – within minutes.
MorFi has been also successfully used to determine morphology of grinded cement and mica powders, whereas water was replaced by isopropyl alcohol.
MorFi is available as laboratory and on-line versions, providing identical test results for R&D and Q.C.