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glossary/creping

Creping

Also: creping, crepe, doctor blade

A tissue-making step where the dry sheet is scraped off the Yankee dryer with a doctor blade, creating fine longitudinal folds that produce softness and stretch.

Creping is what makes tissue tissue. The sheet arrives at the Yankee dryer wet, dries against the hot cylinder surface, and gets scraped off by a doctor blade at the exit. The blade compresses the dry sheet into fine folds, which produces the soft, stretchy texture of bathroom and facial tissue.

Crepe ratio is the key control variable: length of sheet on the Yankee divided by length at winding. High crepe ratios (25%+) give soft, bulky tissue; low ratios give thinner, stronger tissue.