3D Computational Simulation and Experimental Validation of Structured Materials: Case Studies of Tissue Papers

The development and optimization of structured materials, such as tissue paper materials, benefit from modeling strategies that take into consideration its structural hierarchy at the fiber and the paper levels. The use of an innovative three-dimensional voxel approach to model both the fiber and the 3D paper structure were validated by comparison of the computational structures with the laboratory-made structures. The main goal of this work was to model tissue structures and obtain a computational implementation adapted for tissue products. The fibers were modeled in 3D according to their dimensions, and the structures produced by them were characterized using the Representative Elementary Volume (REV) and image analysis computational tools. This methodology made it possible to model the fibers according to their morphology, flexibility, and collapse, resulting in a tissue structure with thickness, porosity, relative bonding area, coverage, among other properties. The experimental design plan included the production and characterization of isotropic laboratory structures with basis weights of 20, 40, and 60 g/m(2) with different eucalyptus fibers and beating degrees. With the aid of these advanced computational tools, mathematic models with predictive capacity for tissue properties such as softness, strength, and absorption can be developed.