Toward continuous high-performance bacterial cellulose macrofibers by implementing grading-stretching in spinning

Xingchun Zhao; Shiyan Chen; Zhuotong Wu; Nan Sheng; Minghao Zhang; Qianqian Liang; Zhiliang Han; Huaping Wang

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119133

Toward continuous high-performance bacterial cellulose macrofibers by implementing grading-stretching in spinning

Carbohydr Polym. 2022 Apr 15:282:119133. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119133. Epub 2022 Jan 14.

Authors

Xingchun Zhao¹, Shiyan Chen², Zhuotong Wu¹, Nan Sheng¹, Minghao Zhang¹, Qianqian Liang¹, Zhiliang Han¹, Huaping Wang³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, PR China.
² State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, PR China. Electronic address: chensy@dhu.edu.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, PR China. Electronic address: wanghp@dhu.edu.cn.

PMID: 35123765
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119133

Abstract

At present, the orderly assembly of bio-cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) with excellent mechanical properties in a simple and continuous manner still remains a challenge. Here, we propose a strategy of combining a wet spinning process with a self-made grading-stretching device to realize the continuous preparation of high-performance bacterial cellulose (BC) macrofibers. The macrofiber obtained by one-stage stretching at the optimum stretching ratio of 40% achieves the Young's modulus of 19.8 GPa and tensile strength of 544.5 MPa. Under two-stage stretching, wide-angle X-ray (WXRD) diffraction analysis revealed that the second orientation of nanofibers shows a higher degree of orientation than that under one-stage stretching. The maximum Young's modulus and tensile strength of the macrofiber can reach 33.2 GPa and 659.8 MPa, respectively, which are higher than most CNFs macrofibers obtained by spinning and post-stretching. This research is expected to provide a significant reference for the industrial spinning of nanocellulose.

Keywords: Bacterial cellulose; Grading-stretching; High-strength; Macrofibers; Wet-spinning.