Water Soluble Paper Dissolution as a Function of Time

[Laserxenon]

Hi All,

I am looking for a water soluble paper for an application that necessitates the paper remain intact underwater for a period of time between 4-12 hours. This specification is not yet exact, nor is it necessary to be extremely precise, rather just that the paper remains intact for a larger time period than instantly dissolving.

The typical conditions that the paper must operate in would be water of about 55F and generally static water pressure, with occasional (5-10x/Hr) dynamic pressures exerted on it due to water flowing past it briefly (~5 seconds). The paper would not be serving as a barrier, but rather adhering to the inner surface of the vessel using a water activated adhesive.

I am aware that there are commercial suppliers of water soluble papers, but it appears that they do not have a method to control the dissolution beyond the few seconds/minutes that it normally takes (it is simply a function of the thickness of the paper).

Does anyone know of a coating that could be applied to the paper that would itself take 4-12 hours to dissolve off, thereby exposing the paper to water which would then dissolve the paper? Ideally the chemical applied would not interact with either the Sodium Carboxy Methyl Cellulose nor commercially available inks that may be printed onto the water soluble paper (not sure yet of the chemical composition of the inks).

Thanks for any thoughts you may have!

 

[Compositepro]

Coat the paper with a water soluble polymer like PVA (polyvinyl alcohol)or carbopol (water soluble acrylic).

 

[Laserxenon]

Hi CompositePro,

How would I go about varying the time until the PVA etc dissolves? would mixing it in different molar solutions effect this? or perhaps multiple coats?

i would do some experimentation to determine the concentrations/etc vs. time but am unsure as to what my variables would be!