Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N21/00—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of optical means, i.e. using sub-millimetre waves, infrared, visible or ultraviolet light
  • G01N21/17—Systems in which incident light is modified in accordance with the properties of the material investigated
  • G01N21/21—Polarisation-affecting properties
  • G01N21/23—Bi-refringence
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01B—MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
  • G01B11/00—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques
  • G01B11/02—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques for measuring length, width or thickness
  • G01B11/06—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques for measuring length, width or thickness for measuring thickness ; e.g. of sheet material
  • G01B11/0616—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques for measuring length, width or thickness for measuring thickness ; e.g. of sheet material of coating
  • G01B11/0641—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques for measuring length, width or thickness for measuring thickness ; e.g. of sheet material of coating with measurement of polarization
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01B—MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
  • G01B11/00—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques
  • G01B11/26—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques for measuring angles or tapers; for testing the alignment of axes
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N33/00—Investigating or analysing materials by specific methods not covered by groups G01N1/00 - G01N31/00
  • G01N33/46—Wood
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N21/00—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of optical means, i.e. using sub-millimetre waves, infrared, visible or ultraviolet light
  • G01N21/17—Systems in which incident light is modified in accordance with the properties of the material investigated
  • G01N21/21—Polarisation-affecting properties
  • G01N2021/216—Polarisation-affecting properties using circular polarised light
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N21/00—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of optical means, i.e. using sub-millimetre waves, infrared, visible or ultraviolet light
  • G01N21/84—Systems specially adapted for particular applications
  • G01N21/86—Investigating moving sheets
  • G01N2021/8663—Paper, e.g. gloss, moisture content
  • G01N2021/8681—Paper fibre orientation

Definitions

• the present invention relates to polarized light, optical and all related physical properties of a birefringent specimen, and in particular, to a polarized light method and device for determining the relative phase retardations, and the orientations of the optical axes of different layers in a multi-layered birefringent specimen, preferably, the relative phase retardation, which is related to the wall thickness, and the fibril angle of intact wood pulp fibres.
• a wood fibre is a biological material consisting of four principal layers: the primary wall Pi, and the three secondary wall layers Si, S 2 and S 3 as shown in Fig. 1(a) [1]. All three secondary layers are composed of long crystalline cellulosic microfibrils, embedded in an amorphous matrix of hemicelluloses and lignin. The outer Si and the inner S 3 layers are very thin and their microfibrils are wound almost transversely to the fibre axis.
• the middle S layer comprising 80-90% of the fibre -wall material, has cellulosic microfibrils wound in a helix at an angle, termed the fibril angle ( ⁇ ), to the longitudinal fibre axis.
• the crystalline microfibrils are aligned in these layers, and are birefringent, making wood fibres birefringent.
• the magnitude of the birefringence depends on the thickness of the layers Si, S and S 3 , the orientations of their microfibrils, and the birefringence of each layer.
• fibre wall thickness and the fibril angle in the dominant S layer control the physical and mechanical properties of wood pulp fibres, and therefore strongly influence the response of pulps to papermaking treatments and the end-use properties of paper and board products.
• fibre wall thickness affects virtually all physical properties of paper including structural, strength and optical characteristics [2, 3].
• Fibril angle controls swelling/shrinkage properties [4], stress-strain behaviour [5] and dimensional stability of paper [6]. It has been shown that the S 2 fibril angle strongly affects the collapsibility of fibres.
• the knowledge of important fibre properties such as fibre wall thickness and fibril angle is, therefore, critical for identifying and selecting resources that are optimal for a given end use.
• fibril angle is another important fibre property.
• polarized- light microscopy [10] direct observation [11] micro-Raman spectroscopy [12], orientation of the elongated pit apertures [13], and most recently polarization confocal microscopy [13]. Although these techniques can provide measurements on fibril angles, they are also very slow.
• the method still needs many measurements obtained with the analyzer, polarizer and/or the retarders oriented at different angles, and it takes a very long time to make measurements on stationary fibres. Both of these techniques are very time consuming, and unsuitable for on-line type instruments.
• the present invention aims at developing a new, rapid technique for measuring fibre wall thickness and fibril angle using a non-destructive optical technique that is based on circularly polarized light microscopy.
• the new invention provides a means to determine distributions of fibre properties because it is based on single fibre measurements. Properties of fibres are determined by analyzing the intensities of multi- wavelength light emerging from the system.
• This new invention can be automated, and implemented in a fibre flow-through system, thus allowing a rapid assessment of wood fibre properties (on-line in real time).
• This invention seeks to provide a method for determining optical and physical properties of a multi-layered birefringent specimen, for example a wood pulp fibre.
• This invention also seeks to provide a new method and device for measuring the phase retardations of multi-layered birefringent specimens at different wavelengths, and the orientations of their optical axes, especially in wood pulp fibres.
• this invention seeks to provide a method that permits nondestructive, rapid, simple and accurate measurements of the phase retardations of multi- layered birefringent specimens at different wavelengths simultaneously, and the orientations of their optical axes, especially in wood pulp fibres.
• a method for determining at least one parameter selected from relative phase retardations and orientations of the optical axes of a multi-layered birefringent specimen comprising the steps of: producing a circularly polarized light beam having a plurality of wavelengths, wherein the plurality is at least the same number as the number of parameters to be determined in the multi-layered specimen under evaluation; impinging the circularly polarized light beam on the specimen to be evaluated; recording and measuring the light intensities of the wavelengths emergent from the specimen; and determining the at least one parameter from the light intensities of the emergent wavelengths and fitting the data with an equation that describes the specimen.
• a method for determining the relative phase retardation, related to wall thickness, and fibril angle of an intact wood fibre having a wall comprised of three layers Si, S 2 and S 3 : the two outside layers Si and S 3 having microfibrils oriented transversely with respect to the fibre longitudinal axis, and the middle dominant layer S 2 having microfibrils wound in a helix at fibril angle comprising the steps of: producing a circular polarized light system beam, at at least two wavelengths; impinging the circularly polarized light beam on a wood fibre to be measured; recording and measuring the light intensities of the wavelengths emergent from the wood fibre; and determining the relative phase retardations and hence the wall thickness, and the S 2 fibril angle of the wood fibre from the light intensities of the wavelengths emergent from the wood fibre, and fitting the data with an equation that describes the wood fibre.
• an apparatus for determining relative phase retardations, or orientations of the optical axes of a specimen comprising a light source effective to provide light in multiple wavelengths, a circular polarized light system to generate a circularly polarized light beam from the light from said light source, means to dispose a specimen within said system, in the path of the generated circularly polarized light beam, means for determining the light intensities of light emergent from the specimen, and processing means to determine the properties of the specimen from the emergent light intensities.
• the method of the invention may be carried out with the circular polarized light in a dark field or a bright field.
• the light source is typically of multiple predetermined and well-defined wavelengths, and the number of predetermined wavelengths is suitably at least the same as the number of parameters, to be determined.
• the method may suitably be employed to determine the relative phase retardations, or the orientations of the optical axes of the specimen, or both.
• the circular polarized light system employed is suitably comprised of a polarizer and an analyzer; both the polarizer and the analyzer may be linear polarizers; and a pair of well-matched achromatic quarter-wave retarders with a working wavelength range covering all predetermined wavelengths of the light source.
• the optical axes of the retarders are oriented 90° to each other and 45° to the polarizer and the analyzer.
• the apparatus suitably includes, for determining light intensities of light emergent from the specimen: a condenser and an objective lens for microscopic polarized light imaging; the image capturer which may suitably be a multi-wavelength detector or a camera, for example a multi-channel digital camera; an image processing and an image and data analysis system comprising an image processor for multiple images to determine the light intensities at individual, predetermined wavelengths, and an image analyzer, for example, having analyzer programs for analyzing multiple images and identifying the region of interest for data analysis.
• a condenser and an objective lens for microscopic polarized light imaging the image capturer which may suitably be a multi-wavelength detector or a camera, for example a multi-channel digital camera
• an image processing and an image and data analysis system comprising an image processor for multiple images to determine the light intensities at individual, predetermined wavelengths, and an image analyzer, for example, having analyzer programs for analyzing multiple images and identifying the region of interest for data analysis.
• the data analysis is suitably carried out with a non-linear fitting routine for determining the properties, especially the relative phase retardations and the orientations of the optical axes of the specimen, from the intensities of multi-wavelength data emergent from the circular polarized light system with an equation describing the specimen being measured.
• the light source provides a number of predetermined wavelengths that are well separated, but are still within the acceptable working wavelength range of the achromatic quarter-wave retarders.
• the predetermined wavelengths may suitably range from 250 nm to 1000 nm.
• the multi-layered birefringent specimen is suitably selected from cellulosic fibres consisting of wood and non-wood fibres, and wood and non-wood pulp fibres.
• a particular advantage of the present invention is that it is not necessary to position or orient the specimen relative to the circularly polarized light beam in which it disposed. Similarly, it is not necessary to adjust, for example by rotation, the analyzer of the emergent light.
• the specimen is thus in a non-restricted orientation in the beam.
• this invention provides a new polarized-light method as the solution for determining both the phase retardations of multi-layered birefringent specimens at different wavelengths and the orientations of their optical axes, especially the wall thickness and fibril angle of wood pulp fibres.
• the number of individual wavelengths needed in the system depends on the number of unknown parameters in a specimen being measured.
• a device for use in the method is comprised of: a) a predetermined multi- wavelength light source, b) a circular polarized light microscopy system, c) a multichannel imaging system for detecting the predetermined multi-wavelength light intensities, such as a color digital camera, and d) an image processing and data analysis system.
• the circular polarization system suitably consists of a polarizer, an analyzer, and a pair of "well-matched" quarter-wave achromatic retarders in the wavelength region of the measurements. These components can be arranged to provide a circular polarized light system with either dark- or bright-field (i.e. dark or bright background).
• This invention relies mainly on the birefringent properties of specimens at different wavelengths, and the apparatus or measurement instruments, to provide and implement a method to measure the phase retardations of multi-layered birefringent specimens at different wavelengths, and the orientations of their optical axes simultaneously, especially wall thickness and fibril angle of wood pulp fibres.
• this measurement technique is suitable to characterize any other single- and multi-layered birefringent specimens such as non-wood fibres; e.g., cotton, ramie, kenaf and flax fibres, etc.
• FIGS. 1(a) and (b) show (a) a schematic representation of layer structure of a single wood fibre, and illustrates (b) the model for describing an intact fibre used in this invention.
• Each fibre wall consists of three layers, Si, S 2 and S 3 that are represented by three birefringent layers with different thicknesses tsi, ts and ts 3
• the directions of the optical axes for Si and S 3 are approximately 90° with respect to the fibre axis, but this angle is ⁇ for S 2 layers.
• the two opposite fibre walls are assumed to have identical wall thicknesses, but opposite ⁇ (i.e., ⁇ ) in the S 2 layers.
• FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a system for determining the thicknesses and optical axes of multi-layered specimens, such as wall thickness and fibril angle of intact wood fibres.
• FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram for a multi-wavelength light source, which consists of numerous predetermined and well-defined single wavelengths.
• FIGS. 4(a), (b) and (c) show theoretical intensity maps for various ⁇ n - tsi and fibril angle of an intact fibre imaged under a dark-field circularly crossed- polarized light system.
• Three intensity maps with different incident light wavelengths (a) 450, (b) 530 and (c) 640 nm are generated according to Eq. (19) when the thicknesses of Si and S 3 are set to be 0.2 and 0.05 ⁇ m respectively.
• the scale on the top x-axis is plotted as the S 2 layer thickness, ts 2 , when the birefringence, ⁇ « , is set to 0.056.
• FIG. 5 shows three data sets with different intensities but the same relative intensities among different wavelengths. The data in this graph follow the criteria set for ⁇ n , Si and S 3 in Fig. 4.
• the lines shown are the intensities as function of wavelength according to Eq. (19).
• FIGS. 6(a), (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) show micrographs of unbleached Douglas fir and western red cedar chemical pulp fibres imaged in the dark-field CPLM system with wavelengths 450, 530 and 640 nm.
• Micrographs (a), (b) and (c) are images of wet fibres immersed in water, and (d), (e) and (f) are images of the same fibres after drying. The two marked locations will be used to illustrate the present method for determining wall thickness and fibril angle.
• FIG. 7 plots the transmitted light intensities versus three wavelengths 450, 530 and 640 nm for locations 1 and 2 marked in Fig. 6(a).
• the wall thickness and fibril angle for these two locations in the fibres are determined from the best fits, as shown, of Eq. (19) to these data.
• the birefringence and the thickness of S 1 +S 3 are set to 0.0553 and 0.25 ⁇ m respectively.
• FIG. 8 compares the wall thicknesses determined from the same wet and dry wood fibres shown in Fig. 7.
• the coefficient of determination R 2 of 0.98 shows a strong correlation between the measurements taken from wet and dry fibres.
• FIGS. 9(a), (b) and (c) show (a) micrographs of a fibre segment in the CPLM system at wavelengths 450, 530 and 640 nm, (b) a confocal cross-sectional image generated from the fibre segment, and (c) double wall thickness determined by analyzing the CPLM micrographs, and the vertical wall thickness generated from CLSM image.
• FIG. 10 shows the fibre wall thickness measured from the confocal cross- sectional images versus the measurements determined from the CPLM method for various unbleached and bleached chemical pulp fibres. The linear fits are also shown, and their slopes, S, are found to be close to one for all data.
• FIG. 11 shows the orientation of the pit apertures versus the fibril angle measured by the CPLM method for wet chemical pulp fibres.
• FIGS. 12(a) and (b) show micrographs of typical black spruce mechanical pulp fibres imaged in the dark- and bright-field CPLM systems with wavelength 530 nm, while fibres were immersed in water. These fibres were from the long fibre length fraction.
• FIGS. 13(a) and (b) show the fibre wall thicknesses of mechanical pulp fibres determined from the dark- and bright-field CPLM methods versus measurements determined from the confocal cross-sectional images. The linear fits are also shown, and their slopes are found to be lower than one.
• FIG. 14 shows a schematic diagram for the last part of a system described in Fig. 2 that allows simultaneous measurements of dark- and bright-field CPLM methods.
• FIGS. 15(a) and (b) show the corrected fibre wall thicknesses determined from the dark- and bright-field CPLM methods versus the CLSM measurements.
• the principle of the technique of the invention is based on measuring the change in polarization of light passing through a birefringent specimen, such as an intact wood pulp fibre.
• a birefringent specimen such as an intact wood pulp fibre.
• measuring the polarizations of the multi-wavelength emergent light provides a means to determine the thicknesses of multi-layered specimens and the orientations of their optical axes, such as wall thickness and fibril angle of wood pulp fibre.
• the Jones matrix formalism is used to describe light propagating through a specimen under a polarized light system [20, 21]. If all optical axes of the material are positioned perpendicular to the direction of the propagation of the light beam, a 2x2 Jones matrix that describes the transmission property of the material, T , is
• the Jones matrix is:
• a wood fibre is made of many layers of cellulosic microfibrils with different microfibril orientations, i.e., different optical axes, and different thicknesses embedded in the matrix of lignin and hemicelluloses.
• the combined effect of n layers is equivalent to one system with a Jones matrix [20], Tcomb . (6)
• a wood pulp fibre consists of two walls with each wall separated into three birefringent layers, Si, S 2 , and S 3 .
• the transmission matrix for a single wall, J / is
• Twaii T(As3, ⁇ s ⁇ )T(As2, ⁇ s ⁇ )T(Asx, ⁇ s ) (7)
• the Si layer is generally considered to be comprised of several layers with fibril angle 70-80° with alternating S and Z helices.
• the optical behaviour of such structure is approximately equivalent to a single layer with fibril angle 90° [14, 19]; That is the fibrils of Si can be approximated to be perpendicular to the fibre axis.
• the model for describing a single wall is shown in Fig. 1(b).
• the opposing fibre walls have the same wall thicknesses for all layers, and their microfibrils in the S 2 layer is wrapped around the fibre axis in a helix at an angle such that the microfibril directions of the opposing S 2 layers are crossed.
• the Jones matrix for describing the S 2 layer with the orientation of the optical axis, fibril angle, of - ⁇ ⁇ /2)T( ⁇ s2,- ⁇ )T( ⁇ s3, ⁇ / 2) Therefore, the Jones matrix describing an intact wood pulp fibre as shown in Fig. 1(b), consisting of two fibre walls with the same thickness, but crossed fibril angle in the S 2 layer, can be written as
• cellulose microfibrils show strong birefringence, but insignificant absorption in the visible light region.
• the matrix, containing lignin and hemicellulose, that imbeds microfibrils, has a weak absorption in the visible or longer wavelength light regions that can be neglected.
• the present invention can still be applied. Since the absorption property of lignin is not dichroic, the absorption term can be decoupled from the birefringence term in the transmission matrix, e.g,
• T T (Absorption)! '(Birefringence matrix) .
• T (Absorption) exp(-2k( ⁇ )t)
• k( ⁇ ) the extinction coefficient that depends on the wavelength ⁇
• t the fibre wall thickness.
• This absorption term T(Absorption) can be determined by the unpolarized transmission light at the defined wavelengths or can be determined from k( ⁇ ) and the wall thickness for proper evaluations of birefringence of the specimen.
• T (Absorption) is set to be one. Even with unknown absorption in the measured samples, the results, particularly for the fibre wall thickness measurements, will not be affected because measurements of this method depend strongly on the relative multi-wavelength intensities as discussed later.
• a circular polarized light system such as dark- or bright-field circular polarized light system is used to realize this measurement principle.
• This measurement system is independent of specimen orientations because the light is circularly polarized.
• a novel, comparatively simple solution for determining the relative phase retardation and the fibril angle in such a polarized light system is developed for an intact fibre with two opposite walls that have the same thickness, but a crossed fibril angle ⁇ in the S layer.
• FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a device in accordance with this invention, describing a circularly polarized light microscopy (CPLM) system with a pulp wood fibre inserted as a sample.
• the device comprises a multi-wavelength light source unit 1, a circular polarized light system with appropriate imaging optics 2, a multi-channel detector or camera 10 that detects the multi- wavelength light intensities, and image processing and data analysis unit 1 1.
• CPLM circularly polarized light microscopy
• a circular polarized light system consists of a pair of polarizers: a linear polarizer P 3 and analyzer A 9, and in between the polarizers are two well-matched precision achromatic quarter-wave retarders Q s 4 and Q. 5 8 with their optical (fast) axes F oriented 90 degrees to each other and 45 degrees to the polarizers as shown.
• the CPLM is a dark-field system when the two polarizers are crossed as shown in Fig. 2, but a bright-field system when the two polarizers are parallel.
• the sample 6 can be placed on a stage for static measurements, or can be passing through a fibre flow-through system as in the existing commercial fibre length analysers.
• the fibre sample 6 under investigation is placed between two circular polarizers.
• the incident circular polarized light is focused on the sample 6 through the condenser 5 and the sample to be measured is magnified and imaged by an objective lens 7 suitable for polarized light application.
• the multi- wavelength images are captured by a multi-channel digital camera such as a color charge-coupled device (CCD) camera 10, or other appropriate optics and detectors for the chosen wavelengths.
• a multi-channel digital camera such as a color charge-coupled device (CCD) camera 10, or other appropriate optics and detectors for the chosen wavelengths.
• CCD color charge-coupled device
• the transmitted light intensities of different wavelengths will be analysed for determining the relative phase retardation and the orientations of optical axes of the specimen under study, such as wall thickness and fibril angle in wood fibres, according to the novel solutions described below.
• the light source unit 1 provides incident light of numerous predetermined and well-defined single wavelengths to the system. These single wavelengths are chosen so that they are well separated, but they must still be within the acceptable working wavelength range of the pair of achromatic quarter-wave retarders chosen for the system. For instance, a pair of retarders used for experiments in this invention had a working wavelength range from 450 nm to 640 nm. Three wavelengths 450, 540 and 640 nm were chosen for the incident light beam.
• the multi- wavelength light source unit 1 can be comprised of lasers or numerous light emitting diodes (LEDs) 12, each having a well-defined single wavelength emission.
• LEDs light emitting diodes
• the different light sources are coupled to the inputs of the multi-track fibre optics 15 by focussing lenses 14.
• the multi-wavelength light sources are then guided into a single light source at the output of the fibre optics 16.
• the present invention can also be easily realized in the bright field circular polarized light system
• the transmitted light intensity, hn g h, is
• the transmitted light intensity is
• the relative phase retardations Asx, As2 and ⁇ ?3 in the Si, S 2 and S 3 layers depend on tsx ⁇ nsx, ts2 ⁇ nsi and tS3 ⁇ nS3, the product of thickness and birefringence of microfibrils in their respective layers.
• FIG. 4 shows theoretical transmitted intensity maps of three wavelengths (a) 450, (b) 530 and (c) 640 nm as a function of ⁇ ntS2 and fibril angle of an intact fibre in dark-field CPLM system. They are generated according to Eq. (19), and the thicknesses for Si and S 3 layers are set to be 0.2 and 0.05 ⁇ m respectively - typical mean thicknesses of Si and S 3 layers for most softwood fibres [1, 14, 19, 23]. The scale of the top x-axis is plotted as the thickness of S 2 layer, ts 2 , when the birefringence, ⁇ , is set to 0.056 for chemical pulp fibres [19].
• Figs. 6(a), (b) and (c) are micrographs of wet fibres immersed in water
• Figs. 6(d), (e) and (f) are micrographs of the same fibres after drying - the dried fibres were mounted in immersion oil, minimizing light scattering in the dry fibre sample, before these micrographs were taken. It is evident that the corresponding wet and dry fibres, taken at the same wavelength, are shown to have very similar intensities as shown in these micrographs. This strongly indicates that the measurements should be the same whether they are done in wet or dry conditions as demonstrated next.
• FIG. 6 Many different locations of wet and dry fibres shown in Fig. 6 were evaluated for their wall thicknesses and fibril angles.
• Fig. 8 compares the wall thicknesses determined from the corresponding areas in the micrographs of the same wet and dry fibres. All measurements were done at the middle regions of the fibres. Strong correlation between the measurements from the wet and dry fibres is shown, and the coefficient of determination R 2 of 0.98 was found. This confirms strongly that the present invention provides similar wall thickness measurements either from wet or dry wood fibres. It demonstrates the robustness of this method in that similar results can be obtained from the less light scattering dry fibres in immersion oil and the more light scattering wet fibres in water.
• Fig. 9(b) shows a cross- sectional image of the fibre segment in Fig. 9(a) generated non-destructively by using confocal laser scanning microscopy.
• the vertical thickness across the fibre was determined from the confocal cross-sectional image in Fig. 9(b). These two wall thickness profiles are shown in Fig. 9(c). These two techniques for measuring wall thickness agree very well, particularly for flat areas. This strongly supports the validity of the CPLM technique for determining wall thickness of wood fibres. Relatively poorer agreement results from areas where fibre edges occur. This can be explained by the strong light scattering occurring at areas with edges. Therefore, to minimize the influence and effects of light scattering from the edges in fibre wall, in particular if the fibre being measured is immersed in the water, the measurement is best done at the flat region or the middle region of a fibre. Flat areas can be easily recognized by the uniformly distributed intensities in the CPLM images, implying similar wall thickness in these areas.
• FIG. 10 shows the fibre wall thickness measured from the confocal cross- sectional images versus the fibre wall thickness measurements determined from the CPLM method for a variety of chemical pulp fibres.
• Douglas fir, western red cedar and western spruce are unbleached chemical pulp fibres of three different softwood species, whereas softwood, southern pine, and a hardwood, aspen, are fully bleached.
• the present method can also be applied to mechanical pulp fibres. Unlike chemical wood pulp fibres, mechanical wood pulp fibres have a much higher yield and retain most of the amorphous matrix of hemicelluloses and lignin. Moreover, fibre walls are altered during mechanical refining. The higher lignin content in the fibres can increase the light absorption, and the refining effects, such as external fibrillation, can create undue light scattering. Applying the present method to mechanical pulp fibres can be a challenge. In the absence of light absorption and scattering, the dark- and bright fields are inversions of each other as shown in Eq. (16). However, if light absorption and scattering are present, they have opposite effects on the dark- and bright- field CPLM intensities:
• I dark k ⁇ I d rk (Birefringence)
• I dark (Birefringence) and h (Birefringence) are the transmitted light intensities under dark- and bright-field CPLM systems when only the property of a specimen is taken into account.
• FIG. 12 shows micrographs of wet black spruce mechanical pulp fibres imaged in (a) dark-field and (b) bright-field CPLM at wavelength 530 nm.
• Figure 13 shows the fibre wall thickness measured from the confocal cross-sectional images versus the measurements determined from (a) the dark-field and (b) the bright-field CPLM methods for the fibres shown in Fig. 12.
• both graphs still show good correlations between dark- and bright- field CPLM and CLSM measurements.
• the slopes for dark- and bright-fields are found to be 0.75 and 0.78 respectively.
• the slopes differ from one - a value found in chemical wood pulp fibres.
• the lower slopes reflect the fact that the present method only measures the amount of cellulosic microfibrils in the fibre wall, and not the amorphous matrix of hemicelluloses and lignin which constitutes the additional thickness of the fibre wall in mechanical wood pulp fibres.
• the difference of 0.03 in the slope is found in the dark- and bright-field CPLM measurements, reflecting the effects of light absorption and scattering in the fibres on the measurements. Such a small difference demonstrates and confirms that the CPLM measurements are not affected strongly by light absorption and scattering.
• the factor k in Eq. (21) can be obtained from an unpolarized light transmission. On the other hand, if both dark- and bright-field CPLM measurements are done simultaneously, the k can also be obtained from k - I dark + I bright . (22)
• the present invention provides a novel and unique method that can determine wall thickness and fibril angle rapidly and accurately in either wet or dry wood fibres non-destructively and non-invasively.
• the method requires the same minimal sample preparation as in fibre length measurements.
• the equation derived according to the present method is very simple even with the effects of the Si and S 3 layers included, which are critically important for the accuracy of the measurements.
• the relatively simple equation in this method is novel and unexpected, and makes the analysis of data for the determination of wall thickness and fibril angle of a fibre simple, rapid and reliable.
• Another important and unique feature of the present method is its robustness; the fibre wall thickness measurements are not affected significantly by the absorption and light scattering, as the measurements depend largely on the relative multi-wavelength intensities.
• the present method does not involve orienting the sample at a particular direction or making many measurements at various optical arrangements that involve physical movements.
• the measurements are independent of the orientations of the fibres in the optical system, and are performed under one optical arrangement. All necessary measurements can be obtained simultaneously and rapidly.
• the method does not require high precision optics or precise focusing for wall thickness and fibril angle measurements, since intensity measurements do not require high resolution as shown by the above experimental data.
• Gr ⁇ be A. Properties of Cellulose Materials, in Polymer Handbook, ed. by Brandrup, J., and ⁇ mmergut, E.H., John Wiley & Sons, New York, Third Edition.

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• 2004
  • 2004-11-25 WO PCT/CA2004/002033 patent/WO2005054825A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2004-11-25 JP JP2006541770A patent/JP4653112B2/ja not_active Expired - Lifetime
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