Representative Papermaking Machines Cylinder machines tend to align fibers more than fourdrinier machines. Tensile strength ratios in MD and CD for a typical fourdrinier board are about 2:1, whereas for a cylinder board the ratio might be 4:1 or higher, meaning that the MD tensile strength is four times greater than the CD tensile strength. The greater the degree of fiber alignment, the greater the difference in a given property when measured in MD and CD. The ratio of a property in the two directions is often used as a gauge of fiber alignmentRepresentative Papermaking Machines Cylinder machines tend to align fibers more than fourdrinier machines. Tensile strength ratios in MD and CD for a typical fourdrinier board are about 2:1, whereas for a cylinder board the ratio might be 4:1 or higher, meaning that the MD tensile strength is four times greater than the CD tensile strength. The greater the degree of fiber alignment, the greater the difference in a given property when measured in MD and CD. The ratio of a property in the two directions is often used as a gauge of fiber alignment