DIFFERENT TYPES OF EMBOSSING ON TOILET PAPER

DIFFERENT TYPES OF EMBOSSING ON TOILET PAPER

Until not many years ago, a roll of toilet paper was made of two-ply smooth tissue.

Already the presence of a simple embossing or knurling was considered interesting only for some advanced markets.

In fact, the tissue once produced had a high degree of softness (this choice partly desired and partly imposed by the technological level then achieved) such that no further precautions were needed to obtain bulky rolls and a material pleasant to use.

To give greater volume to the roll, a simple "shot" or "rice grains" embossing (still accepted by certain markets) was, if we want, the first innovation in the field.

The need to clearly increase the total production as well as the productivity of each single machine from the paper mill, pushed the paper mills themselves to manufacture less elastic and less soft tissue papers. The world of converting therefore found itself with the need to provide a product that was sufficiently soft and pleasant to use. The solution was found in the so-called "micro-embossing": embossed cylinders are used engraved with many more points (several small embossing points per square centimeter) than those of a traditional embosser. This makes the tissue discreetly softer than smooth but without (only negative note) providing the finished roll with a volume particularly greater than its equivalent in smooth paper.

Remarkable are the steps taken by the rewinders technology to manage the double micro-embossing process, which is now found in the latest evolutions (Art-Embossing and so on): each veil is separated from the other after unwinding (when two are not used directly unwinders, each for a reel of single-ply tissue) and embossed separately so that the tips of each face towards the center, thus leaving the softer sides on both external faces of the product.

Over time, various attempts have been made to find the best compromise between softness and volume of the roll with so-called "medium-micro" solutions (lower density of dots per cm2) variously operated (eg: small diamond engravings).

In recent years, the application and development of the lamination technologies used so far in the manufacture of kitchen towels has made it possible to produce toilet paper with two, three and more plies embossed with the most varied decorations and glued together synchronized or not synchronized according to Nested, DESL, DERL technologies, just to name a few. The productive advantages are various:

no longer necessary to keep the veils together, the knurling is abolished
the glue is distributed only where desired, generating economic savings and environmental benefits
if the glue itself is adequately added with ink, the aesthetic result of the product is even better
lighter weight fabrics can be used (the glue helps make the degree of resistance of the product adequate), obtaining a material that is still pleasant to use
the volume of the roll is remarkable (thanks also to the great steps forward made in the rewinding).