Impingement air dry process for making absorbent sheet

Abstract

A process for making absorbent sheet includes: (a) depositing an aqueous furnish of cellulosic fiber on a forming fabric; (b) dewatering the wet web to a consistency of from about 15 to about 40 percent; (c) transferring the dewatered web from the forming fabric to another fabric traveling at a speed of from about 10 to about 80 percent slower than the forming fabric; (d) wet-shaping the web on an impression fabric whereby the web is macroscopically rearranged to conform to the surface of the impression fabric; and (e) impingement air drying the web. The process is particularly suitable for making high bulk products form difficult to process furnishes such as recycle furnishes and for making high basis weight products without compressive dewatering with a papermaking felt.

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