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The TAPPI Standards regulations require public review of standards that are up for ballot. Send a message to standards@tappi.org if you want to request a copy of draft in ballot.

Listed below are TAPPI Standards that have recently gone out for ballot to the corresponding Standard-Specific Interest Group (SSIG). The date in parentheses is the closing date for voting.

T 1015 "Fiber glass mat uniformity (visual defects)" (November 7, 2014)

T 563 "Equivalent black area (EBA) and count of visible dirt in pulp, paper and paperboard by image analysis." (November 7, 2014)

T 403 "Bursting strength of paper" (November 14, 2014)

T 1016 "Average fiber diameter of fiber glass mats" (November 21, 2014)

T 844 pm-10 "Determining construction (nominal basis weight) of corrugated board" was recently balloted for its five-year review. The vote could not be validated because the balance of the interest categories on its Standard-Specific Interest Group (SSIG) is not acceptable.

TAPPI regulations require that no interest group make up more than 50% of the SSIG. The T 844 SSIG has 69.2% Producers. We need to add several new members from other categories to balance the SSIG.

If you are NOT a Producer, we would like to encourage you to join this SSIG. If you ARE a Producer, we hope that you might be able to recruit some new members among the converter, supplier, educator, and general interest categories.

Please note that "Producer" is defined as working for a company that primarily produces pulp and paper, whether or not a converting operation is also part of the company. The "Converter" category means that the company’s primary business is not to produce pulp or paper, but to convert paper to corrugated medium and board.

The category seriously lacking in this SSIG are suppliers. We need suppliers of all categories: chemicals and raw materials, equipment, and service and general suppliers.

If you can participate in this SSIG, please send a message to standards@tappi.org no later than November 14, 2014.

T 1014 om-10 "Moisture sensitivity of fiber glass mats" was recently balloted for its five-year review. The vote could not be validated because the balance of the interest categories on its Standard-Specific Interest Group (SSIG) is not acceptable.

TAPPI regulations require that no interest group make up more than 50% of the SSIG. The T 1014 SSIG has 52.9% suppliers of chemicals and raw materials. We need to add several new members from other categories to balance the SSIG.

If you are NOT a supplier of chemicals or raw materials, we would like to encourage you to join this SSIG. If you ARE a supplier of chemicals or raw materials, we hope that you might be able to recruit some new members among the producer, converter, educator, and general interest categories. We can also accept suppliers of other materials besides chemicals and raw materials (for example, equipment or general services).

If you can participate in this SSIG, please send a message to standards@tappi.org no later than November 17, 2014.

Reports outlining the overdue reviews for Standards and TIPs were sent to the Quality and Standards Management Committee (Q&SMC) on August 5, 2014. Copies of these reports were also sent to the assigned Working Group Chairmen for these overdue reviews as well as to chairmen of the appropriate technical groups in TAPPI.

Anyone who did not receive the overdue reports but who have an interest may obtain copies by requesting them from standards@tappi.org.

Working Group Chairmen: These reports were sent to you for your information and action, if required. Q&SMC may, according to the Standards Guidelines, withdraw any Standards or TIPs whose reviews are overdue, especially if it appears that little progress is being made on the Work Item. If more information or indications of progress on these Work Items are received prior to the next meeting (November 4, 2014), Q&SMC will take these reports of progress under consideration. 

To provide updates regarding these reports, send a message to standards@tappi.org no later than Monday, November 3, 2014, in order to be able to provide this information to Q&SMC at their next meeting.

The standards eligible for approval at SARG are listed below. The asterisks (*) indicate the standards that will be eligible for submission to ANSI for consideration as American National Standards.

*T 835 "Water absorption of corrugating medium: water drop absorption test"

*T 449 "Bacteriological examination of paper and paperboard"

T 458 "Surface wettability of paper (angle of contact method)"

*T 845 (NEW Standard - WI 3031) "Wet pin adhesion of corrugated board by selective separation"

*T 702 "Rheological measurements for characterization of polyolefins: low-density polyethylene (LDPE) for extrusion coating"

The next meeting of the Standards Advisory Review Group (SARG) is scheduled by conference call on Tuesday, November 4, at 1:30 pm Eastern time.  SARG approval is the last step prior to publication for any new or revised standard.

In order to act on any appeals from TAPPI members relevant to the standards up for approval, the SARG meeting is open to anyone for participation. The agenda will be posted on the SARG page at least 50 days prior to the meeting, in accordance with TAPPI’s guidelines. There will be links from the agenda items to the final drafts that are up for approval.

If you would like to participate in the SARG meeting by conference call, please send a message before November 4, 2014, to standards@tappi.org.

A proposal has been made for a new standard test method: "Dry tensile properties of paper towel and tissue products (using constant rate of elongation apparatus)."

This test method describes the procedure, using a constant-rate-of-elongation apparatus, for determining dry tensile strength, peak stretch, and tensile energy absorption of paper towel and tissue products. This procedure is applicable to all types of towel and tissue including bath, towel, napkin, and facial. The procedure is applicable to instruments performing either vertical or horizontal tests. The procedure was written for computer controlled instruments, since these are almost universally used for paper measurement activities. Manual instruments may be suitable for performing this test; however, the user is responsible for making this assessment and complying with the technical requirements described in this method. This procedure does not apply to paper, paperboard, combined corrugated board or handsheets.

A Standard-Specific Interest Group (SSIG) must be formed for this proposal. Any individuals who are interested in this Standard may join the SSIG to receive ballots when this method is ready for vote. If you would like to join the SSIG for this project, please notify the Standards Department at standards@tappi.org or by fax at +1-770-446-6947 no later than November 17, 2014.

Also, the working group chair needs volunteers to participate in a round robin for this new method so that a precision statement can be developed. Please send a message to standards@tappi.org if your organization can participate in this round robin.