Process for making expanded fiber

Abstract

A process for making mechanically expanded fiber from fibrous material having a fibrillar ultrastructure. The expanded fiber is made by impacting the fibrous material with a plurality of fine media. Impacting by the fine media causes the fibers to expand from a fibrous form to a highly fibrillated form, wherein fibrils separate from, or become substantially disassociated from, the fibrous material ultrastructure. Cellulosic fibrous material is particularly applicable to the process. Cellulosic fibrous material is preferably impacted with fine media at least until the cellulose-containing phase of an aqueous slurry containing 0.5%, by weight, of cellulosic material will retain at least fifty percent of the initial volume of such cellulose-containing phase upon unagitated settling for a period of sixty minutes.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.