Abstract
The nanometric internal structure of polymeric fibres is fundamental for their mechanical properties. Two-dimensional small angle neutron scattering patterns were collected to obtain structural parameters of the elementary fibrils in regenerated cellulose fibres prepared by various fibre spinning technologies. Scattering features were fitted to model functions to derive parameters such as elementary fibril radius, long period of the repeating units of crystal and amorphous phase along the fibre axis, degree of orientation, and ellipticity. The correlation between structural parameters and the mechanical properties was studied for the fibres of different existing spinning processes and for the high-strength fibres. Former group showed high correlation with mechanical properties. The latter group showed generally lower correlation, but showed relatively high correlation with the long period. These structural parameters provide a basis for understanding the structure-property relationship of regenerated cellulose fibres as function of spinning types and conditions for further optimization.
Highlights
The nanostructures such as size and shape of crystallites, frequency of folding, localization and structure of the amorphous phase, and the interconnections of the crystalline and amorphous phase are decisive parameters for the mechanical properties of engineered fibres
Cellulose is a semi-rigid polymer that exists in plant cell wall as extended single crystalline fibrils, in the crystalline form of cellulose I [3]
One of the most significant challenges in nanostructural analysis of cellulose has been the low contrast of scattering length density (SLD) between the crystalline and amorphous phases
Summary
The nanostructures such as size and shape of crystallites, frequency of folding, localization and structure of the amorphous phase, and the interconnections of the crystalline and amorphous phase are decisive parameters for the mechanical properties of engineered fibres. Cellulose is a semi-rigid polymer that exists in plant cell wall as extended single crystalline fibrils, in the crystalline form of cellulose I [3] This is due to the synchronized process of polymerization and crystallization in the living organism. Several ap proaches have been implemented to enhance the Bragg peak intensity through pre-treatments or by measuring neutron scattering [5,10,11,12] These reports showed divergent repeating distances from the same types of cellulose fibre (supporting information Table S1), leaving open questions on the details of the periodic structure and relationship be tween structural parameters and mechanical properties. The change of the scattering contrast by solvation and the fibre structure were studied by analysing the equatorial and meridional sectors, and the two-dimensional intensity distribution of the meridional Bragg peak
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