- ECF (ELEMENTAL CHLORINE FREE) A common definition for pulp bleached without using elemental chlorine. Originally any of the bleaching techniques for chemical pulp, when no molecular (elemental) chlorine is used.
- EDGE CUTTERS Device comprising two jets of water which are adjustable across the making machine and which divide the wet web on the wire lengthwise so that the edges may be removed, generally at the couch. In this way they control the width of the web going forward frons the wire part and give it comparatively clean edges.
- EMBOSSED PAPER Paper on which a raised and/or depressed design has been produced by pressure, generally from an engraved or otherwise patterned roll or plate.
- EMULSIFICATION Dispersion of water into the ink during printing. An excess of this may cause printing difficulties.
- EMULSION COATED PAPER Paper coated by any suitable coating process with plastics or resins applied in the form of an emulsion.
- ENGINE SIZING Sometimes known as internal sizing. The addition to the paper making stock of chemicals which ultimately confer on the paper the property of resisting penetration by aqueous liquids, e.g. writing ink.
- EQUILIBRIUM MOISTURE CONTENT The moisture content of a paper that has reached a balance with the atmosphere surrounding it, i.e. in a condition in which it will neither give up nor absorb moisture.
- ESPARTO GRASS A grass naturally occurring in North America which, when pulped, produces a bulky fibre for making good quality paper; it was once a popular paper making fibre.
- EXTRUSION COATING A method of coating a web of paper with resins, plastics or similar hot-melt compounds. The coating is applied through an extruder die positioned immediately above the nip between a supporting roll and a chill roll.
- FEED BOARD The surface on a printing machine over which the stock is conveyed to the lays.
- FELT MARK Imprint left on the paper by one or more of the felts used in making the paper. The mark may be wanted or unwanted and special effects can be introduced in this way.
- FIBRILLATION Freeing of the fibrils by partial rupture of the fibres when submitted to an appropriate treatment, e.g. beating or refining.
- FILLER A material such as china clay or calcium carbonate which is added to make paper smoother and increase opacity.
- FILLING IN The addition of components of the furnish of a paper to pulping or slushing equipment in a paper mill. The spreading of the printed image on a sheet to the point where the small unprinted spaces are obliterated.
- FINES Small fragments of fibres produced, for example, in the course of beating or refining.
- FINISH The surface characteristics imparted to paper by mechanical means.
- FLAME-RESISTANT PAPER Paper which has been given a treatment designed to give it a certain degree of non-flammability and/or of incombustibility.
- FLOW BOX A container for stock situated immediately before the forming part of a paper or board making machine, capable of supplying stock in the required volume and with the required distribution characteristics to the forming surface. Also known as the breast box or head box.
- FLUORESCENT WHITENING AGENT/ FLUORESCENT DYE A dyestuff which is capable of converting u/v light into the visible spectrum and improving the brightness of the paper in which it is incorporated. Sometimes known as optical bleaching agent (OBA).
- FOILS Static bar-like devices situated below the forming wire of a paper making machine to assist drainage of water from the stock.
- FOLDING BOXBOARD Although boxboards can vary in quality from grey board (q.v) to high-class board made from virgin fibre, the term is usually taken to mean white lined boards. They ase made on multi-layer machines, and the outer layers may be of a different furnish to the centre layer.
- FORMATION The manner in which the fibres are disposed in the sheet as determined by the look-through.
- FOUNTAIN ROLLER The roller on a printing machine which initiates the supply of moisture to the damping system.
- FOUNTAIN SOLUTION Water, with additives, for application to the lithographic plate on a printing machine.
- FOURDRINIER MACHINE A paper making machine that forms the paper in a continuous sheet; it was named after the Fourdrinier brothers who financed the first operational machine at the Frogmore Mill, Hertfordshire, in 1803.
- FREE STOCK Stock that, when drained under gravity, parts easily with the water of suspension.
- FREENESS VALUE A measure of the drainability of an aqueous suspension of stock, determined and expressed as specified in a standard
- method of test.
- FURNISH The ingredients or constituents of which the paper is made. Fibrous furnish concerns only the types and proportions of
- the fibres present. Total furnish includes loading etc.