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Cellulose microfibrils: A novel method of preparation using high shear refining and cryocrushing

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Published/Copyright: January 1, 2005
Holzforschung
From the journal Volume 59 Issue 1

Abstract

This paper describes a novel technique to produce cellulose microfibrils through mechanical methods. The technique involved a combination of severe shearing in a refiner, followed by high-impact crushing under liquid nitrogen. Fibers treated in this way were subsequently either freeze-dried or suspended in water. The fibers were characterized using SEM, TEM, AFM, and high-resolution optical microscopy. In the freeze-dried batch, 75% of the fibrils had diameters of 1 μm and below, whereas in the water dispersed batch, 89% of the fibrils had diameters in this range. The aspect ratio of the microfibrils ranged between 15 and 55 for the freeze-dried fibrils, and from 20 to 85 for the fibrils dispersed in water. These measurements suggest that the microfibrils have the potential to produce composites with high strength and stiffness for high-performance applications. The microfibrils in water were compounded with polylactic acid polymer to form a biocomposite. Laser confocal microscopy showed that the microfibrils were well dispersed in the polymer matrix.

Keywords: aspect ratio; cryocrushing; high shear; microfibril; refining
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Corresponding author. Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, 33 Willcocks Street, Toronto ON M5S 3B3, Canada

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Published Online: 2005-01-01
Published in Print: 2005-01-01

©2004 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Effect of juvenile wood on strength properties and dimensional stability of black spruce medium-density fiberboard panels
  2. Hot-pressing stress graded aspen veneer for laminated veneer lumber (LVL)
  3. Internal stresses in glulam due to moisture gradients in the grain direction
  4. Influence of grain direction in vibrational wood welding
  5. Evaluation of heat-treated wood swelling by differential scanning calorimetry in relation to chemical composition
  6. Wettability changes and mass loss during heat treatment of wood
  7. Inverse analysis of the transient bound water diffusion in wood
  8. The creep of wood destabilized by change in moisture content. Part 2: The creep behaviors of wood during and immediately after adsorption
  9. On some physical properties of six aspen clones
  10. Changes in color and structure of birch wood (Betula pendula) caused by bleaching with hydrogen peroxide solution
  11. Enhanced wet tensile paper properties via dielectric-barrier discharge
  12. Survival of bacteria on wood and plastic particles: Dependence on wood species and environmental conditions
  13. Microdistribution of copper in copper-ethanolamine (Cu-EA) treated southern yellow pine (Pinus spp.) related to density distribution
  14. Investigations on ribosomal DNA of indoor wood decay fungi for their characterization and identification
  15. Bioactive phenolic substances in important tree species. Part 3: Knots and stemwood of Acacia crassicarpa and A. mangium
  16. Cellulose microfibrils: A novel method of preparation using high shear refining and cryocrushing
https://doi.org/10.1515/HF.2005.016
Keywords for this article
aspect ratio; cryocrushing; high shear; microfibril; refining

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Effect of juvenile wood on strength properties and dimensional stability of black spruce medium-density fiberboard panels
  2. Hot-pressing stress graded aspen veneer for laminated veneer lumber (LVL)
  3. Internal stresses in glulam due to moisture gradients in the grain direction
  4. Influence of grain direction in vibrational wood welding
  5. Evaluation of heat-treated wood swelling by differential scanning calorimetry in relation to chemical composition
  6. Wettability changes and mass loss during heat treatment of wood
  7. Inverse analysis of the transient bound water diffusion in wood
  8. The creep of wood destabilized by change in moisture content. Part 2: The creep behaviors of wood during and immediately after adsorption
  9. On some physical properties of six aspen clones
  10. Changes in color and structure of birch wood (Betula pendula) caused by bleaching with hydrogen peroxide solution
  11. Enhanced wet tensile paper properties via dielectric-barrier discharge
  12. Survival of bacteria on wood and plastic particles: Dependence on wood species and environmental conditions
  13. Microdistribution of copper in copper-ethanolamine (Cu-EA) treated southern yellow pine (Pinus spp.) related to density distribution
  14. Investigations on ribosomal DNA of indoor wood decay fungi for their characterization and identification
  15. Bioactive phenolic substances in important tree species. Part 3: Knots and stemwood of Acacia crassicarpa and A. mangium
  16. Cellulose microfibrils: A novel method of preparation using high shear refining and cryocrushing
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