Cellulose whiskers were obtained by means of sulfuric acid hydrolysis of curauá fibers. Before hydrolysis, the natural fibers were treated with an alkaline solution to remove the non-cellulosic content. Fiber degradation evolution and cellulose whisker formation were analyzed by structural and morphological analysis. The original fiber structure underwent a fragmentation mechanism after being exposed for 3 min to sulfuric acid. Cellulose whiskers were lixiviated from the fiber surface after 10 min of hydrolysis, developing two scenarios: one where the whiskers became unattached from the original fiber, and the other which remained attached. The cellulose whiskers presented a needle-like geometry with an approximate diameter of 11 nm and average length of 185 nm, after 30 min of acid hydrolysis. Based on microscopic characterization, a schematic representation of the morphological evolution of the cellulose fibers submitted to acid hydrolysis is proposed.
In this work, the degradation evolution of curauá fiber, subjected to acid hydrolysis, was monitored at different times. It was observed that the hydrolysis is initiated by a fibrilation process, allowing the access of acid throughout the fiber structure. The cross-section micrographs of the embedded fibers suggested that the acid attack in plant cells takes place towards the middle lamella to the inner regions of the cell wall. Exposure of nanocrystals that attached to the cell wall, as well as, clusters of isolated nanocrystals were observed after only 10 minutes of hydrolysis. These results also showed the formation of nanocrystals after one third of the time established in literature for hydrolysis. The cellulose nanocrystals were completly isolated after 30 minutes of hydrolysis.Cellulose nanocrystals were obtained by acid hydrolysis of cellulose from different sources, such as cotton, curauá and cellulose microcrystalline. The nanocrystals showed a needle-like shape, with dimensions dependent on the cellulose source.The surface modification of nanocrystals was performed with 3isocyanatepropyltriethoxysilane (IPTS). Results from infrared spectroscopy analysis suggested the surface modification of the nanocrystals. The silicon mapping made by ESI-TEM showed the presence of silicon on the surface of the nanocrystals.As a secondary purpose, the processing of nanocomposites with nanocrystals in a PLA matrix was carried out. The nanocomposites with nanocrystals obtained by acid hydrolysis with HCl showed a more significant improvement in mechanical properties and the results showed the need for surface modification as well as the most suitable choice of acid for the hydrolysis of cellulosic material.
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