In this paper, the actuation mechanism of electro-active paper (EAPap) actuators is addressed and the potential of the actuators is demonstrated. EAPap is a paper that produces large displacement with small force under an electrical excitation. EAPap is made with a chemically treated paper by constructing thin electrodes on both sides of the paper. When electrical voltage is applied on the electrodes the EAPap produces bending displacement. However, the displacement output has been unstable and degraded with timescale. To improve the bending performance of EAPap, different paper fibers-softwood, hardwood, bacteria cellulose, cellophane, carbon mixture paper, electrolyte containing paper and Korean traditional paper, in conjunction with additive chemicals, were tested. Two attempts were made to construct the electrodes: the direct use of aluminum foil and the gold sputtering technique. It was found that a cellophane paper exhibits a remarkable bending performance. When 2 MV m −1 excitation voltage was applied to the paper actuator, more than 3 mm tip displacement was observed from the 30 mm long paper beam. This is quite a low excitation voltage compared with that of other EAPs. Details of the experiments and results are addressed.

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Flexible and deformable calcium carbonate (FCC) with a high aspect ratio was developed by forming calcium carbonate on the surface of nanocellulose through an in situ calcium carbonate formation process. Nanocellulose from wood fiber became a linear core of the newly formed calcium carbonate to result in the flexible inorganic material. When used in papermaking, FCC can make the paper bulky due to its large size and strong due to the creation of less surface area of calcium carbonate. It can also make the surface smooth due to its deformability. The property of FCC depends on the quality of the nanocellulose, the nanocellulose-to-calcium carbonate ratio, and the processing conditions. FCC demonstrated its potential to be the main component of paper by occupying more than 50% of the papermaking raw materials. FCC may change the history of paper in that major component of the paper materials becomes limestone rather than wood fibers. This could lead to the protection of the forest, reduced production costs, and energy savings in the manufacture of paper materials.

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This study compared the dynamic mechanical and thermal properties of biocomposites reinforced with algae fiber; polypropylene (PP) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) biocomposites. The biocomposites are manufactured with a bleached red algae fiber (BRAF) loading ranging from 30 to 60 wt%. The thermal properties of BRAF, PLA and PP were determined by DSC and TGA. The dynamic mechanical and thermomechanical properties of the PLA matrix and biocomposites were analyzed by DMA and TMA. The dynamic mechanical and thermomechanical properties of both BRAF/PLA and BRAF/PP biocomposites show improvement with increasing BRAF loading. The fibers were well bonded with the PLA matrix, indicating strong adhesion, as observed by SEM observations of the fractured surface. In addition, greater improvement in the storage modulus was achieved with the BRAF/PLA biocomposites than with the BRAF/PP biocomposites. Therefore, BRAF/PLA biocomposites can be used as an alternative completely biodegradable biocomposite to BRAF/PP biocomposites.

Hybrid calcium carbonate (HCC) was developed to simultaneously increase the bulk, stiffness, and strength of printing paper. It was prepared by the preflocculation of a mixture of ground calcium carbonate (GCC) and calcium oxide using ionic polymers in the first step. After which, carbon dioxide was injected to make semirigid agglomerates of the GCC and the precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) that was newly formed from the calcium oxide. The final product became much larger than the original GCC and was called HCC. The HCC simultaneously improved the bulk, stiffness, and tensile strength of the paper sheets. The smoothness of a sheet containing HCC was observed to be much better than that of the large-sized GCC. It was believed that the HCC was slightly deformed by the pressure exerted during the papermaking process, which resulted in the smooth surface despite its large size. Due to its high stiffness and tensile strength without losing its smoothness, HCC has great potential for developing high-loaded printing paper that may lead to saving forest and reducing production costs.

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