How is paper made?

The production of printing paper is divided into two basic processes: pulping and papermaking. Pulping is to dissociate plant fiber raw materials into natural pulp or bleached pulp by mechanical method, chemical method or a combination of the two. Papermaking is to combine pulp fibers suspended in water into paper that meets various requirements through various processes.

Any fiber is drained, interwoven into thin pages on the curtain mold, and taken out to dry, and the paper is the finished product. Paper is the carrier of writing and printing, and can also be used for packaging, sanitation and other purposes, such as printing paper, carbon paper, toilet paper, facial paper and so on. There are various materials in ancient paper, and the real papermaking technology originated in China. At that time, the composite material with random cross arrangement of plant fibers was first invented, which can be obtained, made, preserved and written cheaply in different environments. Its appearance and popularization enable human knowledge to be conveniently preserved and spread rapidly, which is of great significance to human civilization.

Extended data:

Early papermaking methods

There are few historical records about the ancient papermaking methods in China, but the papermaking technology and its principle have not changed much since it was invented two thousand years ago. To sum up, the following points can be summarized:

1. Soak chopped plants, such as hemp plants, peel them, chop them with a knife, boil them in a pot, cool them, soak them and stamp them, and stir them with a stick to break their fibers and make them thinner.

2. Add auxiliary materials to make paper pulp.

3. Paper can be salvaged and dried by a paper machine (bamboo curtain and the like) to make paper.

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