Saleh Hooshmand

Dry-Spun Single-Filament Fibers Comprising Solely Cellulose Nanofibers from Bioresidue

We demonstrated that low-cost and environmentally friendly filaments of native cellulose can be prepared by dry spinning an aqueous suspension of cellulose nanofibers (CNF). The CNF were extracted from banana rachis, a bioresidue from banana cultivation. The relationship between spinning rate, CNF concentration, and the mechanical properties of the filaments were investigated and the results showed that the modulus of the filaments was increased from 7.8 to 12.6 GPa and the strength increased from 131 to 222 MPa when the lowest concentration and highest speed was used. This improvement is believed to be due to an increased orientation of the CNF in the filament. A minimum concentration of 6.5 wt % was required for continuous filament spinning using the current setup. However, this relatively high concentration is thought to limit the orientation of the CNF in the filament. The process used in this study has a good potential for upscaling providing a continuous filament production with well-controlled speed, but further work is required to increase the orientation and subsequently the mechanical properties.

All-cellulose nanocomposite fibers produced by melt spinning cellulose acetate butyrate and cellulose nanocrystals

Bio-based continuous fibers were prepared by melt spinning cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB), cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and triethyl citrate. A CNC organo-gel dispersion technique was used and the prepared materials (2 and 10 wt% CNC) were melt spun using a twin-screw micro-compounder and drawn to a ratio of 1.5. The microscopy studies showed that the addition of CNC in CAB resulted in defect-free and smooth fiber surfaces. An addition of 10 wt% CNC enhanced the storage modulus and increased the tensile strength and Young’s modulus. Fiber drawing improved the mechanical properties further. In addition, a micromechanical model of the composite material was used to estimate the stiffness and showed that theoretical values were exceeded for the lower concentration of CNC but not reached for the higher concentration. In conclusion, this dispersion technique combined with melt spinning can be used to produce all-cellulose nanocomposites fibers and that both the increase in CNC volume fraction and the fiber drawing increased the mechanical performance.

Poly(lactic acid) melt-spun fibers reinforced with functionalized cellulose nanocrystals

Poly(lactic acid)-cellulose nanocrystals (PLA/CNC) nanocomposite fibers with 1% weight fraction of nanocrystals were prepared via melt-spinning. In order to improve the compatibility between PLA and the CNC, PLLA chains were grafted onto the CNC surface using a “grafting from” reaction. For comparison, melt-spun PLA fibers and nanocomposites with unmodified CNC were also prepared. The morphology and thermal and mechanical properties of the fibers with different draw ratios were determined. The results of this research show that the surface modification together with drawing resulted in improved fiber properties, which are expected to depend on the alignment of the CNC and PLA molecular chains. The modification is also expected to lead to a flexible interface, which leads to more stretchable fibers. The main conclusion is that PLLA grafting is a very promising approach to improve the dispersion of CNC in PLA, thus creating interfacial adhesion between the phases and making it possible to spin fibers that can be drawn with improved mechanical performance.

Melt spun cellulose nanocomposite fibres: comparison of two dispersion techniques

Abstract Biobased fibres of cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and triethyl citrate (TEC) as plasticiser were prepared by melt spinning. To obtain homogeneous dispersion of CNC, two different dispersion techniques were studied. In the first, the water content of the CNC suspension was reduced and exchanged to ethanol using centrifugation. In the second, the water in the CNC suspension was completely exchanged to ethanol by sol–gel process. Results showed that tensile modulus and tensile strength of the nanocomposite fibres produced with the first technique were lower than CAB–TEC fibres, but the fibres produced by the sol–gel process showed an increase in the tensile modulus and had no decrease in the strength. Optical microscopy of the fibres indicated a few aggregations on the sol–gel prepared materials. The results indicate that the sol–gel process is enhancing the dispersion of CNC and can be a suitable way to prepare nanocomposite fibres.