Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.

Thomas Gerard Shannon

Richard Louis Underhill

Wen Zyo Schroeder

Bo Shi

Jeffrey Dean Lindsay

Ning Wei

Candace Dyan Krautkramer

Jeffrey James Timm

Michael Alan Hermans

Mark Alan Burazin

Dave Allen Soerens

Fung-jou Chen

Mike Thomas Goulet

David John Paulson

Stephen Michael Lindsay

Michael William Veith

Kelly Dean Branham

Scott W Wenzel

Peiguang Zhou

James Leo Baggot

Corey Thomas Cunningham

Troy Michael Runge

Steven James Wojcik

Kenneth Allen Pigsley

Kenneth John Zwick

Eric Donald Johnson

Garry Roland Woltman

Michael John Rekoske

Frederick John Lang

Heather Anne Sorebo

Sheng-Hsin Hu

Paul Douglas Beuther

Lynda Ellen Collins

Jason C Cohen

Frank Paul Abuto

Thomas Joseph Dyer

Gary Lee Shanklin

Tammy Jo Balzar

Michael Ralph Lostocco

Susan Jean Moder

Cynthia Watts Henderson

Henry Skoog

Daniel Arthur Clarahan

Kayla Elizabeth Rouse

David Andrew Moline

Felicia Marie Sauer

John Matthew Reiser

John Jerald Urlaub

Kevin Leon LaBerge

Gilbert Darrell Gafford

Brent Merrik Thompson

Zhiying Yu

Lisa Ann Flugge-Berendes

Lisa Ann Flugge

Benjamin Joseph Kruchoski

Michael Andrew Zawadzki

Kenneth Curtis Larson

Shiming Zhuang

Dennis Marvin Jobs

William Clayton Bunyard

Dale Alan Burghardt

Patrick Pachih Chen

Samantha C Ackerly

Matthew Edmund Higgins

Mark R Verburgt

Christine Ann Armstrong

Duane Lyle McDonald

Andrew Peter Bakken

Timothy M McFarland

Kou-Chang Liu

Deborah Joy Nickel

Paul Kerner Pauling

Ronald Lee Edens

Michael John Smith

Kathy Geralyn Richardson

Scott A Baum

Thomas Hampshire Schulz

Benjamin Peter Sierra

Jeffrey Janne Johnson

Charles Herbert Goerg

Pierre R Joseph

James Joseph Clark, Jr

Amber Marie Fortune

Benjamin C Sarbo

Jeffrey David Mathews

Gary Douglas Williams

Dana Stephanie Kass

Joel Banda, Jr

Nancy S Clungeon

Gil Bernard Didier Garnier

Pau-Lin Pawar

Ellen Elizabeth Pelky

Thomas Kremer

Darnell Clarence Radtke

Bozena Nogaj

Alberto Ricardo Negri

Jerry Wayne Baker

Kathryn J Sirovatka

Sheng Hsin Hu

Steven R Kehn

The present invention provides a wet-laid tissue product comprising regenerated cellulose fibers that can provide 25% or less of the total weight of the wet-laid tissue product. The regenerated cellulose fibers can have a denier of less than 0.9 and a fiber length of less than 6.0 mm. The wet-laid tissue product can provide improvements in softness at a given strength.

Soft and strong tissue product including regenerated cellulose fibers

Disclosed are non-wood pulps having a fiber length greater than about 1.70 mm and a brightness of about 80% or greater. The relatively high degree of brightness is achieved without a loss fiber length or pulp yield. The high degree of brightness and relatively long fiber length makes the pulps well suited for the manufacture of wet-laid fibrous products, particularly wet-laid tissue products. The pulps may be prepared from plants of the family Asparagaceae by mechanical pulping and more preferably by a chemi-mechanical pulping using a sodium hydroxide alkaline peroxide solution where the primary pulp is cleaned to reduce debris prior to bleaching. Preferably the cleaned primary pulp has less than about 5% debris prior to bleaching.

High brightness non-wood pulp

Disclosed are non-wood pulps having a fiber length greater than about 1.70 mm and a Very Long Fiber (VLF) content of about 0.50% or less. The fibers are readily dispersible in water and useful in the formation of fibrous sheets, particularly wet-laid sheets and more particularly wet-laid tissue sheets having a relatively low basis weight. In addition of having a relatively long fiber length and a low VLF content, the pulps may also have a Dispersivity Index of about 2.00 or less, which is indicative of a relatively narrow fiber length distribution. The pulps may be prepared from plants of the family Asparagaceae by mechanical pulping and more preferably by a chemi-mechanical pulping process using an alkaline and hydrogen peroxide where the plant biomass is cut to size prior to pulping.

Dispersible non-wood pulp

The present invention provides a wet-pressed, wet-laid tissue product that is soft and durable. The tissue product includes regenerated cellulose fibers providing 25% or less of the total weight of the wet-laid tissue product. The tissue product can include a DSF value of greater than 1.22. The DSF value is defined by the equation: DSF=(Durability Value/TS7 Softness value)/number of plies of the wet-pressed, wet-laid tissue product.

Disclosed are non-wood pulps having a fiber length greater than about 1.70 mm and a brightness of about 80% or greater. The relatively high degree of brightness is achieved without a loss of fiber length or pulp yield. The high degree of brightness and relatively long fiber length make the pulps well suited for the manufacture of wet-laid fibrous products, particularly wet-laid tissue products. The pulps may be prepared from plants of the family Asparagaceae by mechanical pulping and more preferably by a chemi-mechanical pulping using a sodium hydroxide alkaline peroxide solution where the primary pulp is cleaned to reduce debris prior to bleaching. Preferably the cleaned primary pulp has less than about 5 wt % debris prior to bleaching.

Non-wood pulp having high brightness and low debris

Soft, durable and bulky tissue products comprising non-wood fibers and more particularly high yield hesperaloe pulp fibers are disclosed. The tissue products preferably comprise at least about 5 percent, by weight of the product, high yield hesperaloe pulp fiber and have relatively modest tensile strengths, such as a geometric mean tensile (GMT) greater than about 1,000 g/3″, and improved durability and cross-machine direction (CD) properties, such as a CD Stretch greater than about 10 percent. Additionally, at the foregoing tensile strengths the products are not overly stiff. For example, the tissue products may have a Stiffness Index less than about 10.0.

High strength and low stiffness hesperaloe tissue

The non-wood pulps have a fiber length greater than about 1.70 mm and a porosity of about 100 cfm or greater. The relatively high degree of porosity is achieved without a loss in tensile strengths. The high degree of porosity and strength makes the pulps well suited for the manufacture of wet-laid fibrous products, particularly wet-laid tissue products. The pulps may be prepared from plants of the family Asparagaceae by mechanical pulping and more preferably by a chemi-mechanical pulping using a sodium hydroxide alkaline peroxide solution where the plant biomass is cut to size prior to pulping.

High porosity non-wood pulp

A tissue sheet includes softwood fibers and treated non-wood fibers from plants in the Poaceae family, wherein the treated non-wood fibers have less than 15 percent hemicellulose. Also, a tissue sheet consists essentially of softwood fibers and treated non-wood fibers, wherein the treated non-wood fibers have less than 15 percent hemicellulose. Customizing the tensile index and Canadian standard freeness (CSF) of fibers in a tissue sheet includes treating non-wood fibers by removing a portion of hemicellulose from the non-wood fibers; forming a tissue sheet comprising softwood fibers and the treated non-wood fibers; and adjusting the portion of hemicellulose removed from the non-wood fibers to achieve a desired the tensile index and Canadian standard freeness (CSF) of the treated non-wood fibers.

Tailored hemicellulose in non-wood fibers for tissue products

Soft, durable and bulky tissue products comprising non-wood fibers and more particularly high yield hesperaloe pulp fibers are disclosed. The tissue products preferably comprise at least about 5 percent, by weight of the product, high yield hesperaloe pulp fiber and have relatively modest tensile strengths, such as a geometric mean tensile (GMT) greater than about 1,000 g/3&#x2033;, and improved durability and cross-machine direction (CD) properties, such as a CD Stretch greater than about 10 percent. Additionally, at the foregoing tensile strengths the products are not overly stiff. For example the tissue products may have a Stiffness Index less than about 10.0.

The present invention provides mufti-layered tissue webs, and tissue product comprising the same, comprising long, high-coarseness wood pulp fibers selectively deposited in one or more outer layers of the multi-layered web. Surprisingly disposing long, high-coarseness wood pulp fibers in one or more outer layers, even in relatively modest amounts, may improve certain product properties, such as durability, without negatively affecting softness. In certain instances, both the softness and durability may be improved by selectively incorporating long, high-coarseness wood pulp fibers in one or more of the outer layers.

Layered tissue comprising long, high-coarseness wood pulp fibers

Soft, durable and bulky tissue products comprising non-wood fibers and more particularly high yield hesperaloe pulp fibers are disclosed. The tissue products preferably comprise at least about 5 percent, by weight of the product, high yield hesperaloe pulp fiber and have relatively modest tensile strengths, such as a geometric mean tensile (GMT) greater than about 1,000 g/&#x2033;, and improved durability and cross-machine direction (CD) properties, such as a CD Stretch greater than about 10 percent. Additionally, at the foregoing tensile strengths the products are not overly stiff. For example the tissue products may have a Stiffness Index less than about 10.0.

The present invention provides multi-layered tissue webs, and tissue product comprising the same, comprising long, high-coarseness wood pulp fibers selectively deposited in one or more outer layers of the multi-layered web. Surprisingly disposing long, high-coarseness wood pulp fibers in one or more outer layers, even in relatively modest amounts, may improve certain product properties, such as durability, without negatively affecting softness. In certain instances, both the softness and durability may be improved by selectively incorporating long, high-coarseness wood pulp fibers in one or more of the outer layers.

The disclosure provides a wet-pressed tissue product comprisingfiber and having improved sheet bulk and good cross-machine tensile, toughness and durability properties. Cross-machine properties are significant because tissue products often fail in the cross-machine direction because it is often the weaker of the two product orientations (cross and machine directions). Accordingly, in certain embodiments the present disclosure provides a three-layered single-ply wet-pressed tissue product comprising high-yieldfibers from the leaves of, Eucalyptus Hardwood Kraft (EHWK) fibers and Northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK), wherein the high-yieldfibers comprise at least about 5.0 percent by weight of the tissue product, the product having a CD tensile greater than about 450 g/3&#x2033; and sheet bulk greater than about 7.0 cc/g.

High bulk wet-pressed agave tissue

The present invention provides soft, durable and bulky tissue products comprising non-wood fibers and more particularly hesperaloe fiber. The inventors have discovered that high yield hesperaloe pulp fiber, when incorporated in amounts of at least about 5 percent by weight of the tissue product, produces products having a GMT less than about 1000 g/3&#x2033; and a GM Slope less than about 7.0 kg. At the foregoing tensile strengths and modulus the tissue products of the present invention are also generally soft, such as having a Stiffness Index less than about 10.0, and more preferably less than about 9.0, such as from about 7.0 to about 9.0.

Soft tissue comprising non-wood fibers

Growing community of inventors

Neenah, WI, United States of America

Thomas Gerard Shannon