Talc, a functional mineral in rotogravure

paper

LUZENAC GROUP
Member of the RIO TINTO group

ERA Annual Meeting 2005 Amsterdam

 Luzenac Group is the world’s leading
talc producer
Headquarters
Mines and/or processing
plants

zEurope, USA, Canada, Mexico, Luzenac Micro Milling

Luzenac
Australia, Japan (JV) NV
Luzenac
z11 active ore bodies Group
Luzenac Naintsch
Luzenac
Europe Luzenac Val
z20 processing plants Luzenac + R&D
Chisone
SET Talc de
Luzenac
z1.4 million metric tonnes/year
Luzenac Luzenac Val
SET Chisone

780,000 t/year

ERA Annual Meeting 2005 Amsterdam

 Talc is a hydrated magnesium silicate
Tetrahedron of
"silica" type
(silicium)
Platey
Octahedron of
10 Å "brucite" type
(magnesium)
Soft
Inert (stable)

O
O
Organophilic
OH
OH Hydrophobic
Si
Si
Mg
Mg

Mg3Si4O10(OH)2

ERA Annual Meeting 2005 Amsterdam

 Every talc is different

Mineralogical composition
Colour

Particle shape (lamellarity)

Particle size & distribution

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 Particle shape and size

micro-crystalline lamellar

ERA Annual Meeting 2005 Amsterdam

 Talc for paper industry

z Talc means...
Softness

Hydrophobicity

Organophilicity

Plateyness

ERA Annual Meeting 2005 Amsterdam

 Hydrophobic attraction

Birds of a feather flock together

Stickies talc

Hydrophobic
attraction

plastics resin

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 Sticky control mechanism
z Talc adsorbs micro stickies

z Talc covers macro stickies

main mechanism

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 Effects of talc in sticky control
z reduced deposits in fibre preperation

z reduced wire blocking by stickies

z reduced holes in paper

z reduced PM breaks

z reduced deposits on cylinders

z reduced down time for cleaning

ERA Annual Meeting 2005 Amsterdam

 Talc as coating pigment in LWC
rotogravure
z Friction/abrasion

Softness z Feel

z Barrier effect
Hydrophobicity
z Printing runnability
Organophilicity z Printability

z Porosity
Plateyness
z Chemical affinity
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 Talc improves reel formation

Constant tension

ERA Annual Meeting 2005 Amsterdam

 Talc in coated papers
z Rotogravure printability……..Plateyness

Ê Wallpaper / flexible packaging / label

z Friction/abrasion ………………………. Softness

Ê Label / mat & silk woodfree

z Barrier effect ……Hydrophobicity, plateyness

Ê Wrapping (moisture vapour) / release paper

ERA Annual Meeting 2005 Amsterdam

 What are Luzenac coating
paper drivers

zPrint quality improvement

zHigh productivity
z …..

ERA Annual Meeting 2005 Amsterdam

 Engineered product :
standard
engineered

300
Slurry performance :
250 viscosité
200 Superior slurry :
cPo

150

100 (low chemical / higher quality)

50

0
10 20 50 100 Improve runnability
tr/min

particle size distribution

Modified psd :
100

90
standard
80 Engineered

Improve runnability
70

Cumulative mass (%)

60

50

40

Higher paper gloss 30

20

10

Improved coverage 0

100.0 10.0 1.0 0.1

diameter (µ)

ERA Annual Meeting 2005 Amsterdam

 Engineered talc :
potentially high speed coating
Pilot trials : 40 talc based recipe

blade loading vs coater speed

6
5.5
5
4.5 coating talc
mm

4
3.5 engineered talc
3
2.5
2
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
m/min

ERA Annual Meeting 2005 Amsterdam

 Talc : a multifunctional pigment
for paper industry
z Friction/abrasion
Softness
z Feel
Hydrophobicity z Barrier effect
z Printing runability
Plateyness
z Printability
Organophilicity z Porosity
z Chemical affinity
Engineered z High coating speed

ERA Annual Meeting 2005 Amsterdam

 Thank you
for your attention !

ERA Annual Meeting 2005 Amsterdam