The development of some cellulose pulp gel-like dispersions in castor oil with application as biodegradable lubricants was explored in this work by analyzing the effect that Kraft cellulosic pulp cooking conditions exerts on the rheological properties and mechanical stability of these formulations. With this aim, Eucalyptus globulus cellulosic pulps were obtained by increasing the pulping time at the maximum temperature, yielding H factors ranging from 150 to 500. Gel-like dispersions of cellulosic pulps in castor oil were prepared and characterized from a rheological point of view. Small-amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS) measurements and some standard mechanical tests, usually performed on commercial lubricating greases, were carried out in order to evaluate the lubricant performance of these dispersions. In general, the values of linear viscoelastic functions increase with the H factor. Cellulose pulps submitted to lower H factors provides gel-like dispersions with SAOS functions values more similar to those found in traditional lubricating greases. Results were explained attending to a balance between the cellulose polymerization degree and lignin and α-cellulose contents, all of them affected by the H factor applied. An empirical correlation between these variables and both the plateau modulus and the loss of consistency has been proposed to predict the rheological behavior and mechanical stability of gel-like cellulose pulp dispersions in castor oil.
In this work, the use of different cellulosic pulp samples to prepare new formulations potentially applicable as biodegradable lubricating greases is explored. Cellulosic pulps from different raw materials and submitted to different pulping process and/or several acidic treatments were characterized and used as biothickener agents to formulate gel-like dispersions. Cellulose pulp samples mainly differed in polymerization degree (160À893 cm 3 /g) and lignin (0.3À27.1% w/w) and R-cellulose (46.0À85.1% w/w) contents. Rheological measurements and some standard mechanical tests usually performed with lubricants were carried out. The rheological response of cellulosic pulp-based gel-like dispersions is mainly a consequence of the balance between the cellulose polymerization degree and lignin and R-cellulose contents, independently on the origin of cellulose samples and pulping treatment. An empirical correlation between a power function of these variables and the plateau modulus has been proposed to predict the rheological behavior of resulting formulations. However, cellulosic pulp-based dispersions studied generally present either poor mechanical stability or low consistency indexes than expected for lubricating greases.
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