Hydrodynamically induced formation of cellulose fibers. I. Observations on the formation of cellulose fibers from stirred solutions

Abstract

AbstractLike synthetic polymers, a natural polymer such as cellulose may crystallize in fibrous form from stirred solutions. In the present work, it is demonstrated that cellulose fibers can be formed by precipitation from dimethyl sulfoxide/paraformaldehyde solutions by two methods that involve different mechanisms of fiber formation, viz., (A) precipitation of cellulose by addition of nonsolvent to the stirred cellulose solution, and (B) precipitation of cellulose by coagulation of droplets of cellulose solution in a stirred precipitant. Both processes yield fibers with properties depending on the stirring speed and the coagulant strength. The molecular orientation and tensile strength of the fibers produced by method A was low, but increased with the stirring speed, while some fibers formed by method B reached extremely high orientation, depending on the thickness of the fibers. The two mechanisms of fiber formation are discussed on the basis of the experimental observations.