Tying cellulose whiskers together

CELL 229

Lee A Goetz, lee.goetz@ipst.gatech.edu1, Art J. Ragauskas, Art.Ragauskas@ipst.gatech.edu1, Aji Mathew, aji.mathew@ltu.se2, and Kristiina Oksman, kristiina.oksman@ltu.se2. (1) School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 500 10th Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30332, (2) Division of Manufacturing and Design of Wood and Bionanocomposites, Luleċ University of Technology, Skeria 3, 93162 Skellefteċ, Sweden
A growing area in bionanocomposite research is the use of cellulose nanowhiskers as reinforcement. Though the reinforcing effect of cellulose nanowhiskers was studied in various polymers, the impact of crosslinking of the nanowhiskers has not yet been explored. This work describes the development of novel cellulose nanocomposites, where the cellulose nanowhiskers are crosslinked with the poly(methyl vinyl ether-co-maleic acid) - poly(ethylene glycol) matrix. The morphology was studied using atomic force microscopy revealing a network structure embedded in a continuous matrix phase. An increase in the strength and E-modulus with a decrease in the strain was measured when the percent of cellulose nanowhiskers was increased. The water sorption studies demonstrated that these crosslinked nanocomposites are capable of absorbing up to ~900% water and may have potential to be used as hydrogels. Future work regarding the evaluation of them acting as cycling hydrogels and application possibilities will be discussed as well.
 

Biobased Nanocomposites and Nanotechnology
8:00 AM-12:15 PM, Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Rm. R09, Oral

Division of Cellulose & Renewable Materials

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008