CELL 44 |
| Cellulose is the most abundant plant polymer and is used as a raw material for many products. Cellulose whiskers have attracted much attention in nanocomposite materials as a result of their high surface area and unique morphology as well as good mechanical properties. For instance, one could conceive composite structures where cellulose nanocrystals do not have any orientation. The preparation of oriented cellulose whiskers films is a scientific and technical challenge because this opens interesting avenues to prepare new cellulose-based materials and also find new applications for the cellulose polymer. Among the different techniques used to induce an alignment of anisotropic particles in a suspension, we explore in this study the preparation of oriented thin films of cellulose nanocrystals under magnetic or AC electric external fileds. Cellulose whiksers with different morphology and size were used and various parameters such as field strenghts and frenquencies in the case of electrical field, or field power and exposure time in the case of magnetic field, were studied. The prepared films with nanometric thickness were characterized by atomic force microscopy, X-Ray diffraction and chemical surface analysis. |
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Poster Session
4:00 PM-6:00 PM, Sunday, 10 September 2006 Moscone Center -- Hall D, Poster
Division of Cellulose & Renewable Materials |