Main topics:

•  Constitutive modelling of wood fibre network materials 
•  Paper-moisture interaction
•  Paper and board converting and end-use
•  Paper-fluid interaction during papermaking and printing
•  Multiscale and stochastic nature of paper deformation and damage
•  Influence of mesoscale effects such as through thickness and in-plane gradients

Scope and description

The scope of this Euromech colloquium is to share recent advances in experimental characterisation and modelling of the deformation and damage mechanisms of wood fibre network based materials and structures in manufacturing, converting and end-use at all relevant length scales. In particular, the grand challenges in the field, such as paper-moisture interaction during converting and end-use, paper-fluid interaction during papermaking and printing, and the multiscale and stochastic nature of paper damage, will be addressed in the programme of the Colloquium.

Materials that encompass wood fibres in the form of a network, such as wood fibre based paper and paperboard materials, play important roles in many physical and technical systems. The latest advances in computation, measurement and imaging on the microscale enable researchers to undertake a multiscale holistic view on the mechanics of fibre networks.  Fibre-network materials and structures made of them are truly abundant in nature and engineering because they offer a range of unique properties, such as high stiffness to mass ratio. In addition, these materials can often be made from renewable resources at relatively small cost with paper products being an excellent example of that.

The mechanisms that control stiffness and strength of fibre-based materials originate from the structure at the microscale, where the fibre mechanical properties, fibre morphology and orientation, the number of interfibre contacts, bonding properties and disordered nature of the fibre network play crucial roles. Therefore, it is natural to tackle the questions related to the mechanics of the fibre network structures at the length scale where the essential components can be taken into consideration. At the same time, bringing the information from the microscale upwards to the product scale at the appropriate climate conditions is the only way to make the scientific findings both relevant and applicable. Failure is often initiated at the scale of a few fibres, whereas quality parameters, in general, are defined in a continuum mechanics setting that result in essentially size-independent properties.