Nanocristais de celulose

Abstract

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.