Fabrication of Cellulose Nanofiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites

• Published in: Fibers and polymers Vol. 19; no. 8; pp. 1753 - 1759
• Main Authors: Lee, Jae-Chul, Lee, Jin-Ah, Lim, Dae-Young, Kim, Ki-Young
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Korean Fiber Society 01.08.2018; Springer Nature B.V; 한국섬유공학회
• Subjects: Cellulose; Cellulose fibers; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composite materials; Crystal structure; Crystallinity; Fibrillation; Mechanical properties; Nanocomposites; Nanofibers; Nozzles; Polyamide resins; Polymer matrix composites; Polymer Sciences; Reinforcing materials; Specific surface; Surface area; Tensile properties; Tensile strength; Weight; Wood pulp; 섬유공학; Nanofibrillation; Nanopapers; Cellulose; Crystalline index; Nanofiber; Specific surface area; Nanocomposite; Homogenizer
• ISSN: 1229-9197; 1875-0052
• DOI: 10.1007/s12221-018-8279-8

Nano-sized cellulose fibers are successfully fabricated by the fibrillation of wood pulp cellulose into submicron and/or nanoscale nanofibers with a high pressure homogenizer. Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) have great potential as reinforcing materials for polymeric composite materials due to their excellent mechanical properties. In this study, the change of crystallinity index ( CI ) of the CNFs was investigated with changing the nozzle diameter and flow pressure of the homogenizer for the preparations of the CNFs. In addition, the nanopaper was produced using the CNFs prepared in this study and the specific surface area ( SSA ) of the nanopaper was measured to confirm the quality of the CNFs. The CNF-reinforced nanocomposites were produced with polyamide 6 (PA6) fibers which had the different fiber lengths. The morphological structures and tensile properties of the CNF/PA6 nanocomposites were investigated with the CNF content and length of PA6 fibers. The tensile strength and modulus of PA6 composites reinforced by CNFs of 40 % by weight were almost three and eight times higher compared to those of PA6, respectively. The increase in the tensile properties, crystallinity index, and specific surface area of the nanopapers successfully demonstrated the potential use of cellulose nanofibers in the reinforcement for polymer nanocomposites.