Preparation Of Cellulose Nanofibers And Their Improvement On Ultradrawing Properties Of Ultrahigh Molecular Weight Polyethylene Nanocomposite Fibers

Novel ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene?UHMWPE?/cellulose nanofiber?CNF?(F₁₀₀CNF_y)and UHMWPE/modified cellulose nanofiber?MCNF^x?(F₁₀₀MCNF_y^x)as-prepared nanocomposite fibers were successfully prepared by gel-spinning F₁₀₀CNF_y and F₁₀₀MCNF_y^x gel solutions,respectively.CNF nanofillers with a specific surface area at 120 m²/g and a nanofiber diameter of 20 nm were successfully prepared by proper acid hydrolysis of cotton fibers using sulfuric acid solution.MCNF^x nanofillers were prepared by grafting various contents of maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene(PE_g-MAH)onto CNF nanofillers.The ultimate?_f value of the best prepared F₁₀₀MCNF_y^x drawn fiber reached 4.5 GPa,which is about 67%higher than that of the UHMWPE drawn fiber prepared without addition of any nanofiller.To understand the interesting ultradrawing,orientation and tensile properties of F₁₀₀CNF_y and F₁₀₀MCNF_y^x fibers,Fourier transform infrared,transmission electron microscopic analyses of the CNF and MCNF^x nanofillers and scanning electron microscopic analyses of profile surfaces of the etched drawn fibers were performed.This is the first work that very small amounts of MCNF^x nanofillers prepared from cotton fibers were efficiently used as nucleating agents to enhance the ultradrawing and ultimate tensile properties of F₁₀₀MCNF_y^x fibers.