Multiscale structure of cellulose microfibrils in regenerated cellulose fibers

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A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2024-01-15

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en

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Carbohydrate Polymers, Volume 324

Abstract

Cellulose in solution can be assembled into textile fibers by wet-spinning (Viscose etc.) or dry-jet wet spinning (Lyocell, Ioncell etc.), which leads to significant differences in the mechanical properties of fibers. We use scanning X-ray microdiffraction (SXM) to reveal regenerated fibers having a “skin-core” morphology. The “core” region comprises microfibrils (MFs) with ~100 nm in diameter. The cellulose forms elementary fibrils having a ribbon-like cross sectional shape of about 6 × 2 nm, which are packed into MFs. Our SXM studies demonstrate that MFs within Ioncell fibers are composed of elementary fibrils with homogeneous morphologies. Furthermore, the stacking of cellulose molecular sheets within elementary fibrils of Viscose fibers is preferentially along the 010 direction, while those of Ioncell fibers preferably stack in the 1–10 direction. The better structural regularities and distinct morphologies of elementary fibrils give Ioncell fibers enhanced mechanical properties and a wet strength far superior to those of Viscose fibers.

Description

Funding Information: We thank Dr. Makowski for the constructive discussions and critical reading of the manuscript. This project is supported by ESRF inhouse research projects at ID02 and ID13 . Michael Hummel gratefully acknowledges support from Business Finland through the project “From cellulose to new Finnish manmade cellulose fibers and sustainably colored textiles” ( 43619/31/2020 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

Cellulose elementary fibrils(CEFs), Microfibrils(MF), Porosity, Scanning X-ray micro/nano diffraction(SXM/N), Spinning process

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Citation

Liu, J, Sixta, H, Ogawa, Y, Hummel, M, Sztucki, M, Nishiyama, Y & Burghammer, M 2024, ' Multiscale structure of cellulose microfibrils in regenerated cellulose fibers ', Carbohydrate Polymers, vol. 324, 121512 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121512