Elsevier

Carbohydrate Polymers

Volume 72, Issue 4, 10 June 2008, Pages 751-755
Carbohydrate Polymers

Nanocomposites from natural cellulose fibers filled with kaolin in presence of sucrose

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2008.01.008Get rights and content

Abstract

This work introduces, for the first time worldwide, an advanced nanocomposite involving two additives – a nanoadditive and a conventional additive – within a matrix of natural cellulose fibers. The first additive (the nanoadditive) is sucrose, which incorporates the nanoporous structure of the cell walls of cellulose fibers. The second additive (the conventional additive) is kaolin, the famous paper filler. Kaolin is enmeshed between the adjacent cellulose fibers. This advanced paper nanocomposite was prepared by simple techniques.

The present work shows, for the first time, that sucrose can overcome the ultimate fate of deterioration in strength of paper, due to addition of inorganic fillers such as kaolin. This deterioration was counteracted by incorporating cellulose fibers with sucrose, which leads to incorporation beating of the fibers, and thus increases the strength of the produced paper nanocomposites. In addition, sucrose was proven – for the first time – to act as retention aid for inorganic fillers such as kaolin. We called this phenomenon incorporation retention to differentiate it from the conventional types of retention of inorganic fillers.

Recent studies, by the authors and others, have shown that incorporating cellulose fibers, with sucrose, leads to paper nanocomposites of enhanced strength (breaking length). Also, sucrose is privileged by its small size (0.8 nm), substantial hydrogen bonding capacity, low cost, and abundance. Therefore, sucrose was chosen as a nanoadditive in this work. The present study shows that the nanoadditive sucrose may find its use as a new retention aid and strength promoter in papermaking.

Section snippets

Introduction and object

Nanoporous materials are classified as naturally occurring nanoporous materials, and synthetic nanoporous materials. Naturally occurring nanoporous materials may be of mineral origin (such as zeolites), or of biological origin (such as the nanoporous structure of the cell walls of cellulose fibers) (Kelsall and Hamley, 2005, Vaia and Krishnamoorti, 2002).

The authors and others, in recent work, successfully manipulated the natural nanoporous structure of cellulose fibers to increase the water

Materials and methods

The cellulose fibers (pulp fibers) used in this work were high α-cellulose wood pulp fibers. We have carried out chemical and physical analyses for this pulp. The results of the analyses and physical properties are reported in Table 1.

The conventional additive (inorganic filler kaolin) used in this work was Egyptian upgraded kaolin prepared on pilot scale, kindly provided by Metallurgical Research and Development Institute, El-Tebeen, Egypt. Its specifications and analyses are: Kaolinite 92.43,

Effect of filling cellulose fibers (pulp fibers) with the conventional additive (inorganic filler kaolin), in the absence of sucrose

Table 2 shows the properties of paper composites made from cellulose fibers, filled with increasing amounts of kaolin (5, 10, 15 and 20 g of kaolin per 100 g of fibers).

It is evident from Table 2 that the strength (breaking length) of the paper composites decreased with increasing the amount of added kaolin. The breaking length of the blank (kaolin-free paper) was 2015 m, while that of the kaolin-filled paper composites decreased to 1634 m, due to addition of 20 g of kaolin per 100 g of fibers. Thus

Conclusions

This work introduces, for the first time worldwide, an advanced nanocomposite involving two additives – a nanoadditive and a conventional additive – within a matrix of natural cellulose fibers. The first additive (the nanoadditive) is sucrose, which incorporates the nanoporous structure of the cell walls of cellulose fibers. The second additive (the conventional additive) is kaolin, the famous paper filler. Kaolin is enmeshed between the adjacent cellulose fibers. This advanced paper

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