Cellulose nanocomposites - Controlling dispersion and material properties through nanocellulose surface modification

• The use of cellulosic nanofibers as reinforcement in polymer composites offers great advantages over their petroleum counterparts. Apart from being strong, stiff and low density; they are obtained from naturally occurring resources and as such are favorable from an environmental point of view. A major problem while studying nanomaterials is their tendency to agglomerate, thus leading to inhomogeneous distribution within the polymer matrix. This often results in stress concentrations in the matrix rich regions when the material is subjected to load and therefore, limits the potential application of these materials. A common approach to circumvent this is by surface modification, which facilitates the dispersion in non-polar matrices. An environmental friendly approach, inspired by clay chemistry, was used to functionalize the CNC surface. It was shown that the CNC could be modified in a rather convenient way to attach a variety of functional groups on the surface. Primarily, the problem of cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) distribution in a hydrophobic polymer matrix is investigated. Composites prepared from modified CNC were studied and compared with unmodified CNC. The distribution of the CNC is carefully monitored at different stages via UV-Vis spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The mechanical properties of the resulting materials were characterized by dynamic mechanical as well as uniaxial tensile tests. It was shown that a homogeneous distribution of the CNC exposes a tremendous amount of surface area to interact with the matrix. In such a case, the stress transfer is much more efficient and perhaps, the matrix behavior is modified, which leads to significant improvements in the mechanical properties.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik -- Kompositmaterial och -teknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering -- Composite Science and Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Cellulose Nanocomposites

Mechanical Performance

Surface modification

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)