Abstract
Drainage and the fiber bleed-through (FBT) are very important variables for the wet process. While there are several methods that can be used to evaluate the drainage retention characteristics of papermaking furnishes, these methods are not suitable for the fiberglass slurries used in the wet process. This paper reported a wet process mimic device (WPMD) that is specially designed for the fiberglass slurries. The WPMD is capable of (1) mimicking a wet process, (2) measuring the rate of drainage, (3) quantifying the amount of FBT and (4) comparing the performance of various forming fabrics under simulated dynamic conditions. With some minor modifications, the WPMD is expected to have additional functions for (5) studying the shearing and aging effect on white water and (6) (possibly) evaluating the wear resistance of a forming fabric under simulated dynamic conditions.