The production of paper, cardboard and semi-finished products like corrugated board and honeycomb cores, is a high-performance industry in terms of production quantity and quality - With low manufacturing costs at the same time. Materials made from natural fibres are in general recyclable and well established collection and sorting processes are available. The materials also offer excellent properties in terms of their specific strength and stiffness which is beneficial for applications in the area of load-bearing elements. The advantages of this material have already been recognized by a large number of industrial companies. Paper-based materials are already being used in various sectors. From exhibition booth construction to parts or even entire home furnishings to the automotive industry, these materials have become an integral part of our lives.

Understanding the mechanical behavior of the material is still at the research level. Due to its fibre structure and manufacturing process, paper is an orthotropic, inhomogeneous and multi-layered material. The hydrogen bonds that give the fibre network its strength are moisture-dependent and the material has viscoelastic properties. In order for paper-based materials to actually become an alternative to existing materials, it is necessary to generate relevant material parameters and check their effectiveness in calculations based on FEM. Current standards in the paper industry cannot serve as a basis for this, as they often only provide very limited and not universally valid characteristic values. The development of new measurement methods and thus the generation of necessary parameters for machine and lightweight construction is one of the core competences of PTS and has been advanced in a large number of projects in recent years. From the development of new standard testing methods in the field of mechanical and plant engineering to the application of digital image correlation and developments in the field of dynamic testing technology, the article deals with current developments in the paper industry to generate new applications for the material and the general improvement of the understanding of the material.