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AFM nanoindentation of pulp fibers and thin cellulose films at varying relative humidity

  • Christian Ganser , Ulrich Hirn , Sebastian Rohm , Robert Schennach and Christian Teichert EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: May 16, 2013
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Abstract

In papermaking, the formation of bonds between single pulp fibers is influenced by the hardness of the fibers in their wet state. In this work, transversal hardness and modulus of pulp fibers have been studied via atomic force microscopy-based nanoindentation in dependence on relative humidity (RH). Additionally, the change in hardness of cellulose and xylan/cellulose model films was also investigated as a function of swelling in the presence of water and calcium chloride (CaCl2) solution. The hardness of pulp fibers is decreasing slowly from 240 MPa at 5% RH to 90 MPa at 80% RH and exhibits a distinct decrease to 2.7 MPa at the fully wet state. The hardness in water is reduced by a factor of almost 100 compared with the dry state; therefore, a form change is easily possible and facilitates the formation of hydrogen bonds on the fiber surfaces. The investigations on the model films reveal that pure cellulose hardens in the CaCl2 solution, compared with distilled water, whereas xylan on cellulose is becoming softer.


Corresponding author: Christian Teichert, Institute of Physics, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Franz Josef-Str. 18, 8700 Leoben, Austria, e-mail:

Financial support by Mondi and the Federal Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth and the National Foundation for Research, Technology, and Development, Austria, is gratefully acknowledged. We thank Herbert Wormeester and Arzu Colak (University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands) for sharing their know-how regarding a controlled humidity setup.

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Received: 2013-1-18
Accepted: 2013-4-23
Published Online: 2013-05-16
Published in Print: 2014-01-01

©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston

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