Study on the preparation of recycled boards instead of wood boards from waste cellulose

Abstract

AbstractThe research on a novel preparation method for functional scaffolds from natural cellulose has attracted widespread attention in science and engineering. In order to obtain cellulose board which is similar to wood board in structure and mechanical properties, ice template, phase inversion under low temperature, and hot pressing were employed to fabricate board from natural cellulose. During preparation, ice template was used to control cellulose molecules arrange forming excellent orientation in the scaffold. Then, prepared scaffold was immersed in ethanol under −20 °C to remove salt ions used in cellulose resolve process, and keep the direction arrange of molecules in scaffold. Finally, prepared scaffold was treated by hot pressing for pushing off air in pores to form density board. Scanning electron microscopy image showed that prepared scaffold has directional cellulose arrange structure which was similar to that of wood. After hot pressing, the density of scaffold is increased. The mechanical properties of cellulose boards are enhanced with the increase of cellulose concentration, and the tensile strength can reach about 45 MPa, which has great potential in replacing natural wood boards. Our study provides new tactics for the use of natural cellulose in our life.