Preparation and Physical Properties of Regenerated Cellulose Fibres from Sugarcane Bagasse

Abstract

To produce cellulose regenerated fibres with high mechanical properties at low cost, sugarcane bagasse was chosen as a cheap raw material. In this study, bagasse was dissolved in N-methylmorpholine- N-oxide (NMMO) 0.9 hydrate, and fibres were prepared by the dry jet-wet spinning method by using dilute water/NMMO mixture as a coagulant, as is done in the production of commercial lyocell fibre. The effects of other coagulants, including water, methanol, isopropanol and ethanol, on the physical properties of the fibres were also investigated. Among these coagulants, fibres produced in ethanol and water/NMMO mixture exhibited the superior tensile strength and initial modulus although had some NMMO trapped in fibre matrix. After removal of NMMO by a simple heat treatment, much improvement in the fibre structure and mechanical properties was observed. The cross-sectional morphology and surface of these two fibres reveal the occurrence of fibrillation due to their high degree of crystallinity and overall high molecular orientation. The bagasse regenerated fibres produced in this study had a tensile strength of approximately 530 MPa and Young’s modulus of approximately 33 GPa, which are comparable to those of commercial lyocell fibre.