Strength and modulus improvement of wet-spun cellulose I filaments by sequential physical and chemical cross-linking

Publication date: 15 December 2017
Source:Materials & Design, Volume 136
Author(s): Lihong Geng, Binyi Chen, Xiangfang Peng, Tairong Kuang
Cellulose nanofibres (CNFs) were characterized by microscopy (transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM)) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS); they were observed to be 5.4nm wide and 1.8nm thick while their length was >400nm. The CNF suspension was successfully wet-spun into highly oriented filaments owing to flow-induced and contact-induced alignment. The mechanical properties of the filaments increased with an increase in the spinning rate due to the higher degree of orientation along the axial direction of the filaments. It is noted that the strength and modulus of the filaments increased from 268.7MPa and 22.8GPa to 369.8MPa and 28.9GPa, respectively, after physical and chemical cross-linking using a polyamide-epichlorohydrin (PAE) resin. This phenomenon might be attributed to the fact that the tensile fracture of the dense CNF/PAE filaments involved the breakage of both CNFs and interfibre bonds. The resulting filaments show potential as an excellent replacement for naturally and industrially produced fibres.

Graphical abstract

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