Rheological properties of low consistency chemical pulp of bagasse

The rheological properties of low consistency chemical pulp of bagasse influenced by different consistencies, beating degrees and shearing velocities were studied experimentally, the mechanism of such changes on rheological property was also analyzed. The results showed that with the increase of pulp consistency, the apparent viscosities of pulp increased exponentially; the beating degree of pulp had an effect on microstructure of pulp, therefore the apparent viscosities of pulp decreased with the increase of beating degree of pulp, and the apparent viscosities of pulp decreased with the increase of shearing rates. Based on the above results, the rheological models for the low consistency chemical pulp of bagasse were also set up. In addition, from the experimental results, it is found that the rheological property indexes n are less than 1 wholly according to the drawn constitutive equations, which reveals that all the experimental low consistency pulp fluids can be described as pseudoplastic fluids whose relationship of rheological property indexes is in accordance with that of non-Newtonian fluid. Also, it indicates that the values of n increase as the consistency becomes lower, and shows that the rheological properties are close to that of Newtonian fluid when the pulp consistency getting lower. The property data of low consistency chemical pulp of bagasse can be used to model machine-products of pulp molding interactions taking place in the transferring equipment of pulp transferring system.