This study was carried out to investigate the recycling effect to pulp fibres and paper sheet. Generally, the papermaking process is necessarily accompanied with the drying of cellulosic fibres. During drying of cellulosic fibres, there is an irreversible change of the cell wall structure of fibres which is detrimental to subsequent recycling. Therefore, in this study, the phenomenon of irreversible hornification of cellulosic fibre, during recycling, was assessed by WRV. The WRV was decreased with repeated cycles of papermaking, with an initial rapid decrease. Additionally, other physical and mechanical properties, such tensile, bonding index etc., related to inter-fibre hydrogen bonding and surface properties of fibres were determined.