Eve Saarikoski

Flocculated flow of microfibrillated cellulose water suspensions: an imaging approach for characterisation of rheological behaviour

Our aim was to characterise the suspension rheology of microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) in relation to flocculation of the cellulose fibrils. Measurements were carried out using a rotational rheometer and a transparent cylindrical measuring system that allows combining visual information to rheological parameters. The photographs were analyzed for their floc size distribution. Conclusions were drawn by comparing the photographs and data obtained from measurements. Variables selected for examination of MFC suspensions were degree of disintegration of fibres into microfibrils, the gap between the cylinders, sodium chloride concentration, and the effects of changing shear rate during the measurement. We studied changes in floc size under different conditions and during network structure decomposition. At rest, the suspension consisted of flocs sintered together into a network. With shearing, the network separated first into chain-like floc formations and, upon further shear rate increase, into individual spherical flocs. The size of these spherical flocs was inversely proportional to the shear rate. Investigations also confirmed that floc size depends on the geometry gap, and it affects the measured shear stress. Furthermore, suspension photographs revealed an increasing tendency to aggregation and wall depletion with sodium chloride concentration of 10−3 M and higher.

Effect of rheological properties of dissolved cellulose/microfibrillated cellulose blend suspensions on film forming

Enzymatically treated cellulose was dissolved in a NaOH/ZnO solvent system and mixed together with microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) in order to find the threshold in which MFC fibers form a percolation network within the dissolved cellulose solution and in order to improve the properties of regenerated cellulose films. In the aqueous state, correlations between the rheological properties of dissolved cellulose/MFC blend suspensions and MFC fiber concentrations were investigated and rationalized. In addition, rheological properties of diluted MFC suspensions were characterized and a correlation with NaOH concentration was found, thus partly explaining the flow properties of dissolved cellulose/MFC blend suspensions. Finally, based on results from Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), MFC addition had strengthening/plasticizing effect on regenerated cellulose films if low concentrations of MFC, below the percolation threshold (5.5-6 wt%, corresponding to 0.16-0.18 wt% of MFC in the blend suspensions), were used.

Erratum to: Flocculated flow of microfibrillated cellulose water suspensions: an imaging approach for characterisation of rheological behaviour (Cellulose, (2012), 19, 3, (647-659), 10.1007/s10570-012-9661-0)

The article “Flocculated flow of microfibrillated cellulose water suspensions: an imaging approach for characterisation of rheological behaviour,” written by Eve Saarikoski, Tapio Saarinen, Juha Salmela and Jukka Seppälä, was originally published Online First without open access.