Mechanical Characterization on Solvent Treated Cellulose Nanofiber Preforms Using Solution Dipping-Hot Press Technique

Devendran Thirunavukarasu; Yoshinobu Shimamura; Keiichiro Tohgo; Tomoyuki Fujii

doi:10.3390/nano10050841

Mechanical Characterization on Solvent Treated Cellulose Nanofiber Preforms Using Solution Dipping-Hot Press Technique

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2020 Apr 29;10(5):841. doi: 10.3390/nano10050841.

Authors

Devendran Thirunavukarasu¹, Yoshinobu Shimamura², Keiichiro Tohgo², Tomoyuki Fujii²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environment and Energy System, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8561, Japan.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8561, Japan.

Abstract

Nanocomposites films were prepared by impregnating the solvent treated cellulose nanofiber (SCNF) preforms with epoxy resin using a solution dipping-hot press technique. We investigated the effect of SCNF preforms porosity on the amount of impregnated resin and tensile properties of the corresponding nanocomposites films. The porosity of the CNF preforms was successfully controlled using the solvent exchange with varying CNF concentration. The impregnated resin amount increased as the SCNF preforms porosity increased, respectively. Resulting nanocomposite films showed higher mechanical properties than that of the SCNF preforms. The best mechanical properties of composites were found with the combination of 1 wt % SCNF preform and low viscosity epoxy, exhibiting tensile strength and Young's modulus of 77 MPa and 4.8 GPa, respectively. The composite also showed high fiber volume fraction of more than 60%.

Keywords: cellulose nanofibers; mechanical properties; microstructure characterization; nanocomposites.