Guar gum is a natural polymer hydrophilic colloid.
Guar gum is a galactomannan extract from the leguminous plant guar gum, which is generally used as a food thickener. Due to its unique molecular structure and naturalness, it has quickly become a new environmentally friendly papermaking additive with superior performance. Guar gum is a free-flowing powder that ranges in appearance from white to light yellow. It can be dissolved in cold or hot water. When meeting water, it forms a gel-like substance to achieve a rapid thickening effect.
The chemical structure of guar gum
Guar gum is composed of mannopyranose units as the backbone connected to form a main chain, and every two mannopyranose units have 1 and 6 connections. galactopyranose units as side chains. Because guar gum has a similar structure to cellulose, it can be quickly adsorbed on the fiber surface and provide a large number of hydroxyl groups for the formation of hydrogen bonds between fibers, thus effectively promoting the bonding between fibers. In addition, guar gum can also improve the retention of fillers and fine fibers, while also preventing undesirable flocculation between fibers and improving paper evenness.
Reference for the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia-Guar Gum