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Short cellulose nanofibrils as reinforcement in polyvinyl alcohol fiber

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Abstract

Short cellulose nanofibrils (SCNF) were investigated as reinforcement for polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers. SCNF were mechanically isolated from hard wood pulp after enzymatic pretreatment. Various levels of SCNF were added to an aqueous PVA solution, which was gel-spun into continuous fibers. The molecular orientation of PVA was affected by a combination of wet drawing during gel spinning and post-hot-drawing at a high temperature after drying. A maximum total draw ratio of 27 was achieved with various SCNF contents investigated. The PVA crystal orientation increased when small amounts of SCNF were added, but decreased again as the SCNF content was increased above about 2 or 3 %, likely due to SCNF percolation resulting in network formation that inhibited alignment. SCNF fillers were effective in improving PVA fiber tensile properties (i.e., ultimate strength and elastic modulus). For example, the ultimate strength and modulus of PVA/SCNF composite fiber with a SCNF weight ratio of 6 were nearly 60 and 220 % higher than that of neat PVA. Shifts in the Raman peak at ~1,095 cm−1, which were associated with the C–O–C glycosidic bond of SCNF, indicated good stress-transfer between the SCNF and the PVA matrix due to strong interfacial hydrogen bonding. Cryogenic fractured scanning electron microscopy images of filled and unfilled PVA fibers showed uniform SCNF dispersion.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Award (No. 2011-67009-20056). The authors would like to acknowledge Yan Qing and J.Y. Zhu for processing the short cellulose nanofibrils. Debby Sherman at Purdue University is kindly acknowledged for TEM imaging. The first author also wishes to acknowledge the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51073601, 21174044), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2011ZZ0011), the China Post-doctoral Science Foundation (2012M511791), and the 973 Program (2012CB025902) for their financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Polymer Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Jun Peng, Thomas Ellingham & Lih-Sheng Turng

  2. Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, 53715, USA

    Jun Peng, Thomas Ellingham & Lih-Sheng Turng

  3. Forest Products Laboratory, USDA Forest Service, Madison, WI, 53726, USA

    Ron Sabo & Craig M. Clemons

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  1. Jun Peng
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  2. Thomas Ellingham
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  3. Ron Sabo
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  4. Lih-Sheng Turng
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  5. Craig M. Clemons
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Correspondence to Lih-Sheng Turng or Craig M. Clemons.

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Peng, J., Ellingham, T., Sabo, R. et al. Short cellulose nanofibrils as reinforcement in polyvinyl alcohol fiber. Cellulose 21, 4287–4298 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-014-0411-3

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