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) (F100CNFy) and UHMWPE/modified cellulose nanofiber (MCNFx) (F100MCNFyx) as-prepared nanocomposite fibers were successfully prepared by gel-spinning F100CNFy and F100MCNFyx gel solutions, respectively. CNF nanofillers with a specific surface area at 120m(2)/g and a nanofiber diameter of 20nm were successfully prepared by proper acid hydrolysis of cotton fibers using sulfuric acid solution. MCNFx nanofillers were prepared by grafting various contents of maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene (PEg-MAH) onto CNF nanofillers. The ultimate sigma(f) value of the best-prepared F100MCNFyx drawn fiber reached 4.5GPa, which is about 67% higher than that of the UHMWPE drawn fiber prepared without the addition of any nanofiller. To understand the interesting ultradrawing, orientation, and tensile properties of F100CNFy and F100MCNFyx fibers, Fourier transform infrared, transmission electron microscopic analyses of the CNF and MCNFx nanofillers, and scanning electron microscopic analyses of profile surfaces of the etched drawn fibers were performed. This is the first work in this area of research wherein very small amounts of MCNFx nanofillers prepared from cotton fibers were efficiently used as nucleating agents to enhance the ultradrawing and ultimate tensile properties of F100MCNFyx fibers. Copyright (c) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.