ISO/TC 6/SC 2 - Test methods and quality specifications for paper and board

This document specifies a method for determining the total number of colony-forming units of yeast and mould in dry market pulp, paper and paperboard after disintegration. The enumeration relates to specific media.

This document specifies a method for the measurement of curl in cut-size office papers. The test method is typically used in evaluating papers of the type described in ISO 216. This method is limited to papers with a maximum dimension of 300 mm in both directions. The measurement can be made on papers as received, after conditioning, or after processing in a copier or printing device.

This document specifies the essential characteristics and the principles of calibration of fixed platen compression testing equipment used in the testing of paper, board, and corrugated fibreboard.

This document specifies testing procedures for the instrumental determination of brightness and colour of tissue paper and tissue products viewed under outdoor daylight conditions. It also gives specific instructions for the preparation of test pieces (single-ply, multi-ply products) and for the optical measurements of products, where special precautions can be necessary. NOTE The properties called ISO brightness and colour with C/2° (indoor daylight) are measured with an instrument adjusted to a much lower UV content than that specified in this document. The measurements of ISO brightness and colour with C/2° (indoor daylight) are described in ISO 12625-15.

This document describes a laboratory test method, using an IGT1-type or a prüfbau2-type printability tester, for the preparation of specimens to evaluate the absorption rate of an ink on a substrate in offset lithography by setting-off the printed surface to an unprinted surface. This method describes testing with an amount of ink simulating either single colour or multi-colour printing. The print and the set-off print (counter print) are made with interval times, between print and set-off, common for the target process. This method evaluates a particular ink and substrate combination. 1These materials are available from IGT Testing Systems, www.igt.nl. This information is given for the convenience of the users of this document and does not constitute an endorsement by ISO of the products. Equivalent products may be used if they can be shown to lead to the same results. 2These materials are available from prüfbau, Dr.-Ing. H. Dürner GmbH, www.pruefbau.de. This information is given for the convenience of the users of this document and does not constitute an endorsement by ISO of the products. Equivalent products may be used if they can be shown to lead to the same results.

This document specifies a method for determining the roughness of paper and board using an apparatus which conforms to the Print-surf method, as defined in this document. It is applicable to all printing papers and boards with which it is possible to form a substantially airtight seal against the guard lands of the measuring head.

This document specifies a method to assess the disintegration of tissue paper and tissue products when subjected to mechanical agitation in water.

This document describes general test methods for determining the water vapour transmission rate of sheet materials by means of a dynamic gas method or a static gas method. Depending on the method and specific apparatus employed, materials up to 38 mm thick and with water vapour transmission rates in the range from 0,05 g/(m2·d) to 65 g/(m2·d) can be tested. The basis of the function of the instrumental techniques is briefly described. Advice on calibration is given in Annex B.

This document specifies the method for optical assessment of the contact angle between water and the surface of paper and board, where the process of droplet formation, application to planar substrates, or measurement of the droplet shape in contact with the solid is performed by automated equipment. The limits of measurement are determined by the capabilities of the instrumentation used. The instrumental capabilities defined by this document use a digital image capturing system operating at a minimum of 50 frames per second and needs the ability to perform the first measurement after no more than 20 ms to 40 ms contact between the droplet and substrate. The test method is applicable to most kinds of paper or board however it cannot be applicable to structured materials.

This document specifies a method for the determination of the edgewise crush resistance of corrugated fibreboard. The force is applied in the direction of the flute axis. This method is applicable to single-wall (double-faced), double-wall, and triple-wall corrugated fibreboard. It may also be used to test samples taken from corrugated cases and other converted products. While the method is applicable to waxed corrugated fibreboard, care must be taken that the heat used in the waxing step does not affect the corrugated structure. This is controlled by observing that failure during the test still occurs away from the loaded edges.

This document specifies the Oken method for determining the smoothness of paper and board using an apparatus which complies with the Oken method, as defined in this part of ISO 8791. It is applicable to all printing papers and boards.

This document specifies procedures to measure the bending resistance of paper and paperboard using a Taber-type tester. This document is used to determine the bending moment required to deflect the free end of a 38 mm wide vertically clamped specimen by 15° when the load is applied at a bending length of 50 mm. For boards that tend to be permanently deformed if bent through 15°, the half bending angle, i.e. 7,5°, can be used. The bending resistance is expressed in terms of the bending moment and parameters set by the manufacturer of the Taber-type tester. The method is primarily used for papers with a high grammage. NOTE This document does not cover the low-range version of the Taber-type instrument that uses a bending length of 10 mm (see Reference [5]).

This document specifies a method for determining the grammage of paper and board.

This document specifies a test method for the determination of the resistance to mechanical penetration (ball burst strength procedure) of tissue paper and tissue products after wetting.

This document specifies three test methods for determining the bending stiffness of paper and paperboard. The test methods differ in the type of loading mode, thus giving rise to the two-point, three-point and four-point bending test methods. For paper and paperboard in a low thickness range, the two-point bending method and the three-point bending method are suitable. For corrugated fibreboard and board with a higher thickness, the four-point bending method is recommended. The measurement conditions are defined in such a way that the test piece is not subjected to any significant permanent deformation during the test, nor is the range of validity of the formulae for calculating the bending stiffness exceeded. In these bending tests, the test pieces of paper and board are regarded as "beams" as defined by the science of the strength of materials, see Reference [2].

This document establishes general principles for the use of terms in the entire working field of tissue paper and tissue products. It permits the use of a common terminology in industry and commerce. It is expressly stated that ISO 15755 applies for the detection of impurities and contraries in tissue paper and tissue products. For the determination of moisture content in tissue paper and tissue products, ISO 287 applies.

This document describes a method for the determination of the flat crush resistance of a corrugating medium after laboratory fluting using an A-flute geometry. The procedure is applicable to any corrugating medium intended to be used, after fluting, in the manufacture of corrugated board. NOTE ISO 7263-2 describes a method to determine the flat crush resistance using a B-flute geometry.

This document describes a method for the determination of the flat crush resistance of a corrugating medium after laboratory fluting using a B-flute geometry. The procedure is applicable to any corrugating medium intended to be used, after fluting, in the manufacture of corrugated board. NOTE ISO 7263-1 describes a method to determine the flat crush resistance using an A-flute geometry.

ISO 20494:2017 specifies the requirements for the stability of paper for general graphic applications. It is applicable to all types of uncoated, coated and filled papers. NOTE For information on International Standards on paper permanence (see ISO 9706), archival paper permanence and durability (see ISO 11108) and on paper stability for general graphic applications (see ISO 20494), refer to Annex C.

ISO 5629:2017 specifies a method for the determination of bending stiffness using the resonance method. This method gives only a single result for each test piece tested, although in general, bending stiffness values may depend on which surface of the material forms the inner surface of the arc resulting from bending forces. The bending stiffness of a very wide range of papers and boards can be measured using this method. However, for some materials, such as those listed below, the measured numerical values will not be strictly identical with bending stiffness as defined in 3.1: a) multi-ply papers and boards in which the component plies can move separately during a test; b) papers and boards with appreciable curl, especially if the axis of the curl is in the long direction of the test piece; c) some soft papers with grammage below about 40 g/m2. This method is not applicable to corrugated boards.

ISO 287:2017 specifies an oven-drying method for the determination of the moisture content of a lot of paper and board. The procedure in Clause 8, describing how the test pieces are drawn from the lot, is performed at the time of sampling. ISO 287:2017 is applicable to every type of lot of paper and board, including corrugated board and solid board, provided that the paper or board does not contain any substances, other than water, that are volatile at the temperature specified in this document. NOTE For determination of the dry matter content of a sample of paper or board, e.g. for calculation of the dry mass of the sample, ISO 638[1] can be used.

ISO 2528:2017 specifies a method for the determination of the water vapour transmission rate (often erroneously called "permeability") of sheet materials. This method is not generally recommended for use if the transmission rate is expected to be less than 1 g/m2 per day or for materials thicker than 3 mm. In such cases the method specified in ISO 9932 is preferred. The method cannot be applied to film materials that are damaged by hot wax or that shrink to an appreciable extent under the test conditions used. For some purposes it may be necessary to determine the transmission rate of creased material; a procedure for this is given in Annex A.

ISO 17972-3 defines an exchange format for target input values, colour and process control data relating output targets for printers of all types (and the associated metadata necessary for its proper interpretation) in electronic form. ISO 17972-3 includes the use of a CustomResource element within the CXF framework to define a minimum set of data for exchange and identify the data as being part of the ISO 12642 series. If this same framework is used for another defined target, provision is made for that use as well.

ISO 8791-3:2017 specifies a method for the determination of the roughness of paper and board using the Sheffield apparatus. ISO 8791-3:2017 is applicable to papers and boards which have Sheffield roughness values between 10 ml/min and about 3 000 ml/min. It is not suitable for soft papers which allow the lands of the test head to indent the surface, or for high air-permeance papers which allow a significant flow of air through the sheet, or for papers which will not lie flat during the test.

ISO 12625-4:2016 specifies a test method for the determination of the tensile strength, stretch at maximum force and tensile energy absorption of tissue paper and tissue products. It uses a tensile-testing apparatus operating with a constant rate of elongation. It also specifies the method of calculating the tensile index and the tensile energy absorption index. In cases where impurities and contraries have to be determined, ISO 15755[6] applies for these detections in tissue paper and tissue products.

ISO 12625-5:2016 specifies a test method for the determination of the wet tensile strength of tissue paper and tissue products after soaking with water, using a tensile-strength-testing apparatus operating with a constant rate of elongation. Currently, two types of tensile-strength-testing apparatus are commercially available, one where the test piece is positioned vertically and, for the other, horizontally. This document applies for both. For vertical tensile-strength-testing apparatus, a device which is held in the lower grip of the tensile-strength-testing apparatus, called a Finch Cup, is used to achieve the wetting. For horizontal tensile-strength-testing apparatus, the soaking device is placed between the clamps. In cases where impurities and contraries have to be determined, ISO 15755[6] applies for these detections in tissue paper and tissue products.

ISO 12625-6:2016 specifies a test method for the determination of grammage of tissue paper and tissue products.

ISO 16260:2016 describes a method to measure the energy required to rapidly delaminate a test piece of paper or board. Rupture of the test piece in the "Z" or thickness direction is initiated by a pendulum having a defined mass, moving at a defined velocity. The procedure is suitable for both single- and multi-ply papers and boards, including coated sheets and those that are laminated with synthetic polymer films. It is particularly suitable for papers and boards that may be subjected to Z-direction[2],[5] rapid impacts, impulses, or shock loads during printing or conversion. The test procedure entails the adherence of double-sided adhesive tape to both sides of the test piece under pressure. For this reason, the method may be unsuitable for materials that might be structurally damaged by compression or are porous enough to permit migration of the tape adhesive into or through the test piece.

ISO 17972-2:2016 defines an exchange format for target input values, colour and process control data relating to scanner targets (and the associated metadata necessary for its proper interpretation) in electronic form. This part of ISO 17972 includes the use of a CustomResource element within the CxF framework to define a minimum set of data for exchange and identify the data as being part of ISO 12641.

ISO 18620:2016 specifies a simple extensible format for the exchange of tone adjustment curves between applications including but not limited to colour management, calibration and raster image processor systems.

ISO 16763:2016 specifies quality requirements and tolerances of bound products and intermediate components. It is applicable to products requiring industrial binding, for example, books, magazines, catalogues and brochures.

ISO 18619:2015 specifies a procedure, including computation, by which a transform between ICC profiles can be adjusted (compensated) to take into account differences between the dark end of the source colour space and the dark end of the destination colour space. This is referred to as black point compensation (BPC). The relative colorimetric encoding of ICC profile transforms already provides a mechanism for such adjustment of the light (white) end of the tone scale.

ISO 5636-6:2015 specifies the Oken method for determining the air permeance and air resistance of paper and board. There is no limitation on the measuring range of air permeance or air resistance of papers and boards. It is unsuitable for rough-surfaced materials, which cannot be securely clamped to avoid leakage.

ISO17972-1:2015 defines an exchange format for colour and process control data (and the associated metadata necessary for its proper interpretation) in electronic form. It is the base document for describing the use of CxF3 for data exchange. Where required, this part of ISO 17972 also defines additional requirements for a valid CxF/X file. Using XML, all CxF3 and CxF/X documents also support the exchange of data outside of the graphic arts workflow and can support future standards with an extensible architecture using standard XML Names and Metadata tags which can be used with standard XML tools and pass XML validation. Additional parts of ISO 17972 will use custom resources in conjunction with CxF3 to define the required and optional data for a particular workflow.

ISO 12625-16:2015 specifies the testing procedures for the instrumental determination of the opacity of tissue paper or tissue products by diffuse reflectance using a paper backing. ISO 12625-16:2015 contains specific instructions for the preparation of test pieces of single-ply and multi-ply products, where special preparation/procedures might be necessary. It can be used to determine the opacity of tissue paper and tissue products containing fluorescent whitening agents, provided the UV content of the radiation incident on the test piece has been adjusted to conform to that in the CIE illuminant C using a fluorescent reference standard provided by an authorized laboratory as described in ISO 2470-1. ISO 12625-16:2015 is not applicable to coloured tissue paper and tissue products which incorporate fluorescent dyes or pigments.

ISO 12625-15:2015 specifies testing procedures for the instrumental determination of brightness and colour of tissue paper and tissue products viewed in indoor daylight conditions. It also gives specific instructions for the preparation of test pieces (single-ply, multi-ply products) and for the optical measurements of products, where special precautions may be necessary.

ISO 12625-9:2015 specifies a test method for the determination of the resistance to mechanical penetration (ball burst strength procedure) of tissue paper and tissue products. Currently, two types of clamping devices are available on the market with two different diameters, one is with 50 mm and one is with 89 mm. ISO 12625-9:2015 applies for a 50 mm clamping device to be able to measure all sample sizes of tissue paper and tissue products and to be consistent with ISO 12625-11.

ISO 8784-1:2014 specifies a method for determining the total number of colony-forming units of bacteria and bacterial spores in dry market pulp, paper, and paperboard after disintegration. The enumeration relates to specific media.

ISO 2758:2014 specifies a method for measuring the bursting strength of paper submitted to increasing hydraulic pressure. It is applicable to paper having bursting strengths within the range 70 kPa to 1 400 kPa. It is not intended to be used for the components (such as fluting medium or linerboard) of a combined board, for which the method given in ISO 2759 is more suitable.

ISO 5630-7:2014 specifies a method for accelerating the ageing of paper and board through exposure to an elevated light irradiance and for assessing the effect of ageing on optical properties for the purpose of predicting stability to long-term natural ageing that occurs due to exposure to light. It is applicable to all types of paper and board whose surface is white or near white.

ISO 2759:2014 specifies a method for measuring the bursting strength of board submitted to increasing hydraulic pressure. It is applicable to all types of board (including corrugated and solid fibreboard) having bursting strengths within the range 350 kPa to 5 500 kPa. It is also applicable to papers or boards having bursting strengths as low as 250 kPa if the paper or board is to be used to prepare a material of higher bursting strength, such as corrugated board. In such cases, the measurements will not necessarily have the accuracy or precision stated for this method.

ISO 12625-3:2014 specifies a test method for the determination of thickness and bulking thickness and the calculation of apparent bulk density and bulk of tissue papers and tissue products under a pressure of 2,0 kPa.

ISO 16945:2014 specifies two methods for the determination of the edge crush resistance of a corrugating medium after laboratory fluting. The procedures are applicable to any corrugating medium to be used after fluting in the manufacture of corrugated fibreboard.

 ISO 535:2014 specifies a method of determining the water absorptiveness of sized paper and board, including corrugated fibreboard, under standard conditions. It may not be suitable for paper of grammage less than 50 g/m2 or embossed paper. It is not suitable for porous papers such as newsprint or unsized papers such as blotting paper or other papers having a relatively high water absorptiveness for which ISO 8787 is more suitable. This method is not intended to be used for precise evaluation of the writing properties of paper although it does give a general indication of suitability for use with aqueous inks.

ISO 5636-5:2013 specifies the Gurley method for determining the air permeance of paper and board using an air resistance tester, the Gurley apparatus. It is applicable to papers and boards which have air permeances between 0,1 µm/(Pa⋅s) and 100 µm/(Pa⋅s) when tested with the Gurley apparatus. It is unsuitable for rough-surfaced materials, which cannot be securely clamped to avoid leakage. ISO 5636-5:2013 may also be used to determine the air resistance of paper and board.

ISO 5636-3:2013 specifies the Bendtsen method for determining the air permeance of paper and board using the Bendtsen apparatus. It is applicable to papers and boards which have air permeances between 0,35 µm/(Pa·s) and 15 µm/(Pa·s) when tested with the Bendtsen apparatus. It is unsuitable for rough-surfaced materials which cannot be securely clamped to avoid leakage.

ISO 5636-4:2013 specifies the Sheffield method for determining the air permeance of paper and board using the Sheffield apparatus. It is applicable to papers and boards which have air permeances between 0,02 µm/(Pa·s) and 25 µm/(Pa·s) when tested with the Sheffield apparatus. It is unsuitable for rough-surfaced materials, which cannot be securely clamped to avoid leakage.

ISO 8791-2:2013 specifies a method for the determination of the roughness of paper and board using the Bendtsen apparatus. ISO 8791-2:2013 is applicable to paper and board which have Bendtsen roughness values between about 5 ml/min and 3 000 ml/min when measured with variable-area type testers and between about 50 ml/min and 5 000 ml/min when measured with electronic type testers. It is not suitable for soft papers which allow the land to make a significant impression on the surface or for high-air-permeance papers which allow a significant flow of air to pass through the sheet, or for papers which will not lie flat under the measuring head.

ISO 3037:2013 specifies an unwaxed edge method for the determination of the edgewise crush resistance of corrugated fibreboard. It is applicable to all corrugated fibreboard grades.

ISO 16759:2013 specifies the requirements for quantifying the carbon footprint of those processes, materials and technologies required to produce print media products using any form of printing technology and that are within the user's knowledge and control. It is based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, using defined system boundaries and a specified functional unit as the basis for complete or partial carbon footprinting studies. This data can be referenced throughout supply chains for individual print media products. ISO 16759:2013 defines standards of completeness to be followed when communicating the results of a carbon footprint study for print media products to business and consumers. ISO 16759:2013 provides a framework for carbon calculators that organisations can follow, and that can be used as the structure for market or sector-specific carbon footprinting tools. Studies and tools constructed within this framework methodology provide carbon footprint quantifications of print media products that can be validated and verified.