USES OF PAPER
At work, at school, at home. The types and uses of paper are present in every moment and stage of our life.
Paper has endless uses, its job is to make people’s lives easier, and since its discovery, its applications have been growing.
What is the paper?
Paper is a material with a porous structure, and interlaced fibers make it up. It’s from a pulp or aqueous suspension of fibers by draining the water through a mesh and subsequent drying. The fibers that make up the pulp are generally vegetable in nature. Still, their origin can also be mineral, animal, or synthetic. These fibrous materials manufacture it into fillers, sizing agents, colorants, and additives. The fibrous materials manipulate into the continuous paper.
The most widely used paper sources for its manufacture are hardwood trees that produce writing paper. People use softwood trees for wrapping paper or boxes. The wood used to make paper in Spain is continuously regenerating and replanting.
Cellulose, a fiber from wood, obtains paper, and paper has four broad groups:
– Graphic paper
Generally, this term encompasses printing and writing paper. In this group, the intention of all the papers is printing. But the reserved specific name of the printing papers follows these three main processes: letterpress, litho-offset, and gravure. This designation includes very different kinds of paper due to their composition and treatment, such as poster paper, filigree paper, bible paper, carbon paper, etc.
– Paper for containers and packaging
This designation includes all the papers intended to contain and protect any material or product. In fact, this paper’s types are kraft paper, wallpaper, wrapping paper, sulfite paper, greaseproof paper, etc.
– Toilet and sanitary paper
For cleaning purposes, people use this type of paper includes fine papers. Its most common format is the roll format, but you can also find it in various others. Dissolution or decomposition in contact with water is a major concern for designing this type of paper. Within this group are toilet paper, tissue paper, creped tissue paper, etc.
– Special paper
This broad category includes varied types of paper outside the previous groups, such as those used for leather goods and security.
The types of paper differ from each other by:
- Raw Materials
- Surface structure
- Nature of the surface
- Finishing
- Grammage
- Uses or application
Besides, all varieties of paper have properties:
– Durability
Paper durability expresses the ability of the paper to perform its intended functions during continued use.
– Dimensional stability
A paper can maintain its dimensions and its flat surface when its moisture content changes.
– Hand
This term refers to the relationship between the thickness and the weight of the paper.
– Permanence
This characteristic refers to the paper’s useful properties; it’s mechanical and color resistance after prolonged periods.
– Resilience
The paper can return to its original shape after being deformed or curved.
– Carter
This characteristic refers to the combination of touch and sound that a paper sheet produces when it shakes manually.
There are many competitive advantages of paper, so it stands out compared to other alternative materials, offering high quality for different jobs.
In history, as the material par excellence for the transmission of knowledge, people use paper. Its applications have no limits, and there are many different varieties. The great type of paper is continually adapting to new uses.
The paper industry has evolved technologically and has endowed paper with new properties while entering a dynamic environment that makes the paper sustainable. Paper is a product with high value and surprising applications. Stay tuned to our blog so that you can learn much more about the types and uses of paper. Also, in our online store, you can have everything you need.