Nowadays already half of Europe's packaging papers are produced on high-speed gap former machines. The high machine speeds place heavy demands on the forming fabric dewatering concept. The biggest challenge is the short initial drainage zone. Sheet formation must be achieved in less than one second. Even with decreasing raw material quality with a higher fines content, furnish quality must be counteracted to not suffer any losses in production output. Due to the high machine speeds, machine cleanliness is also of great importance. In addition, increasing production, a high headbox volume and flow pressure require good fabric stability and CMD-tension uniformity.

EDC - forming fabric structure for the highest demands

Our answer to these high demands on a high-speed dewatering concept is our forming fabric structure based on a 2:3 warp concept, the EDC drainage channels (Engineered Drainage Channels). This unique and patented forming fabric technology significantly controls the initial sheet building. The resulting benefits are numerous and ultimately help maximize plant profitability:

• improved distribution of fibers and fines
• less sheet sealing
• improved dewatering results in high vacuum elements
• improved dewatering in the press section
• improved runability
• less water and fiber carry
• improved cleanliness of the machine

Not all forming fabrics are the same

With the unique design of our EDC forming fabric, we significantly improve results over the SSB market standard. EDC fabrics consist of drainage channels that provide a perfect combination of highest surface open area for fast and controlled dewatering and high supporting points with highest cross machine direction support.

Gentle initial sheet building optimizes drainage

The engineered drainage channels provide reduced dewatering speed on the paper side surface and accelerated drainage from the fabric middle. This controlled dewatering is a prerequisite for a smooth initial sheet building. The resulting of a more open sheet structure also enables optimum dewatering at the forming vacuum elements and further press section dewatering. Already proven in practice, compared to standard SSB constructions, the EDC forming fabrics allow a wider operation window.

Lower contamination extends machine run time

The EDC forming fabric design has a 10% lower caliper compared to SSB variants. The low void volume reduces water and fiber carryover and significantly improves machine cleanliness. 

More stable forming fabric construction

The increased number of bottom side warp yarns gives the forming fabric construction more stability.