Preparation, Characterization and Application of Amorphized Cellulose—A Review

This review describes the methods of cellulose amorphization, such as dry grinding, mercerization, treatment with liquid ammonia, swelling in solvents, regeneration from solutions, etc. In addition, the main characteristics and applications of amorphized celluloses are discussed. An optimal method for preparing completely amorphous cellulose (CAC) via the treatment of original cellulose material with a cold NaOH/Urea-solvent at the solvent to cellulose ratio R ≥ 5 is proposed. Structural studies show that amorphous cellulose contains mesomorphous clusters with a size of 1.85 nm and specific gravity of 1.49 g/cm3. Furthermore, each such cluster consists of about five glucopyranose layers with an average interlayer spacing of 0.45 nm. Amorphous cellulose is characterized by increased hydrophilicity, reactivity, and enzymatic digestibility. Due to its amorphous structure, the CAC can be used as a promising substrate for enzymatic hydrolysis to produce glucose, which can be applied in biotechnology for growing various microorganisms. In addition, the application of CAC in agriculture is described. A waste-free method for producing amorphous nanocellulose is considered, and the main applications of nanosized amorphous cellulose are discussed.

Incidence of mercerization treatment in the mechanical properties of bamboo fibre bundles "Guadua Angustifolia Kunth" from colombian origin

In this article, bamboo fibre bundles of "Guadua Angustifolia Kunth" specie were isolated from different locations of the basa zone: upper, middle and lower, through mechanical extraction method. The elastic modulus and the tensile strength were obtained with preliminary tensile tests. Applying the statistical analysis known as ANOVA, it was determined that the mechanical properties are similar in all the extension of the basa zone. From there, fibre bundles were extracted randomly, and a part of the fibre bundles was treated with NaOH (mercerization). Later, tensile tests with different calibration lengths were made for calculate the elastic modulus and the tensile strength of the treated and untreated fibre bundles. Best results belonged to the treated fibre bundles. A good correspondence between the results obtained in this work and the results reported in the literature was concluded.

Effect of Spinning Systems on Properties of Dyed Egyptian Cotton Yarns after Mercerization Treatment

The effects that spinning technology and spinning parameters have on the color strength (K/S), strength, and breaking elongation of post dyed and mercerized yarns are investigated in this study. The emphasis of the study is on the selection of long stable Egyptian cotton varieties, namely Giza 80, Giza 86, and extra long stable Giza 92. The cotton samples are spun by using compact, ring, and open end spinning technologies. For the purpose of this study, different yarn counts and twist multipliers are used. The mechanical properties, such as the tensile strength and breaking elongation of the produced yarn are investigated and compared before and after the mercerization treatment (slack and tension), followed by a reactive dyeing process. All of the samples are prepared for dyeing after mercerization. The dyeing performance in terms of the K/S is studied. When the results are examined, it is found that the samples that have undergone (bleaching + slack mercerization + reactive dyeing) generally have higher K/S values than samples that have undergone (bleaching + tension mercerization + reactive dyeing) and (bleaching + non-mercerization + reactive dyeing) respectively. Open-end spun yarns have a higher K/S compared to the compact and ring spun yarns with the lowest count yarn and twist level. The strength percentages are higher for compact, then ring and finally open-end spun yarns respectively with tension mercerization. There is no noticeable difference in the elongation% for all of the treatment processes. The authors have used quality engineering reproducibility and repeatability (R&R) tools to guarantee the repeatability and reproducibility of the results in this research paper.

The effect of mercerization process on the structural and morphological properties of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) pulp

Environmental awareness and depletion of the wood resources are among vital factors that motivate various researchers to explore the potential of agrobased crops as an alternative source of fiber material in paper industries such as writing, printing, wrapping, and packaging. Fibers from agro-based crops are available in abundance, low cost, and most importantly its biodegradability features, which sometimes referred as “ecofriendly” materials. This paper attempt to study the effect of mercerization treatment on the structural and morphological properties of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) pulp. It was shown that the PALF pulp achieved favourable structural and morphological properties as characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometer and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The mercerized fibers (15% NaOH) achieved the best tensile properties compared to that of pristine fibers.This modification have the potential to be utilized as pulp for paper based products.

Mercerization Treatment Conditions Effects on Kenaf Fiber Bundles Mean Diameter Variability

The interest in utilizing natural fiber as reinforce in polymer composites has increased in recent years due to their advantages like availability, cheap, renewable, lightweight, and biodegradable. However, the main challenge of natural fiber to be used as reinforcement in polymer is their hydrophobic nature. One of the solutions is via chemical modification like mercerization treatment. In this study, the effect of alkali concentrations at 2 and 10 w/v %; and soaking temperature at 30°C and 80°C on a kenaf fiber bundles mean diameter was investigated. Untreated kenaf fiber was used as a control unit. Kenaf fiber diameter was measured using a Leica video analyzer. Microstructure change of kenaf fiber before and after mercerization treatment conditions was identified using JOEL scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Finally, an interaction of alkali treatment conditions on kenaf fiber bundles mean diameter value was statistically analyzed using a commercially available statistical software package. The results showed that kenaf fiber bundle mean diameter was reduced by 30.12% to 42.92% after mercerization treatment. From analysis of variance, the main effect of alkali concentration value was 6.075 and the temperature value was 1.135. The main effect plots reveal that alkali concentration had a higher impact on mean diameter changes compared to soaking temperature factor.

Influence of Mercerization on Micro-structure and Properties of Kapok Blended Yarns with Different Blending Ratios

To investigate the effect of mercerization on micro-structure and the properties of kapok/cotton blended yarns. FTIR spectra and x-ray diffraction (XRD) results, moisture regains and mechanical properties of blended yarns were compared before and after mercerization. The results show that mercerization treatment did not have an obvious effect on chemical compositions of cellulose, but did lead to decreasing on crystallinity of blended yarns, and transformed certain portion of cellulose I into cellulose II. When the NaOH concentration increased from 180g/L to 250 g/L, the strengths of blended yarns increased and elongations at breaking declined, and the extent of changes were lessened gradually with the increase of kapok fiber content, when the NaOH concentration further reached 280g/L, the strengths of blended yarns with high content of kapok fiber dropped dramatically, and elongations at breaking increased gradually, while hygroscopicities of blended yarns increased significantly. Different from cotton fiber, a more moderate alkali treatment condition should be chosen in mercerization process for kapok fiber.