Abstract
Samples of lyocell fibres were taken in the form of filaments from fibre tow of potentially infinite length and in their final condition of staple fibres. Mechanical testing showed comparable tensile strength, but a 50% lower modulus of elasticity for staple fibres and a higher elongation at break compared to filaments from fibre tow. Structural investigation by means of synchrotron wide angle X-ray scattering and birefringence measurement revealed a significantly lower degree of preferred orientation together with less fibre straightness for staple fibres than for filaments. It is concluded that plastic deformation during the processing of staple fibres from filaments induces permanent changes in the orientation of cellulose chains in the fibres, which in turn is responsible for the observed differences in mechanical performance.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander LE (1969) X-ray diffraction methods in polymer science. Wiley-Interscience, London
Amash A, Zugenmaier P (2000) Morphology and properties of isotropic and oriented samples of cellulose fibre–polypropylene composites. Polymer 41:1589–1596
Azizi Samir MAS, Alloin F, Dufresne A (2005) Review of recent research into cellulosic whiskers, their properties and their application in nanocomposite field. Biomacromolecules 6:612–626
Bledzki AK, Gassan J (1999) Composites reinforced with cellulose based fibres. Prog Polym Sci 24:221–274
Dadashian F, Yaghoobi Z, Wilding MA (2007) Internal damage of crimed lyocell fibre. Textile Res J 77:457–461
Eichhorn SJ, Baillie CA, Zafeiropoulos N, Mwaikambo LY, Ansell MP, Dufresne A, Entwistle KM, Herrera-Franco PJ, Escamilla GC, Groom L, Hughes M, Hill C, Rials TG, Wild PM (2001) Current international research into cellulosic fibres and composites. J Mater Sci 36:2107–2131
Fink H-P, Weigel P, Purz HJ, Ganster J (2001) Structure formation of regenerated cellulose materials from NMMO-solutions. Prog Polym Sci 26:1473–1524
Fink H-P, Weigel P, Geiger O, Busch M (2004) Neue commodity-verbundmaterialien unter verwendung von celluloseregeneratfasern. Techn Text 47:126–130
Ganster J, Fink H-P (2006) Novel cellulose fibre reinforced thermoplastic materials. Cellulose 13:271–280
Ganster J, Fink H-P, Pinnow M (2006) High-tenacity man-made cellulose fibre reinforced thermoplastics—injection moulding compounds with polypropylene and alternative matrices. Comp Part A 37:1796–1804
Gindl W, Keckes J (2006) Strain hardening in regenerated cellulose fibres. Comp Sci Technol 66:2049–2053
Gindl W, Martinschitz KJ, Boesecke P, Keckes J (2006) Orientation of cellulose crystallites in regenerated cellulose fibres under tensile and bending loads. Cellulose 13:621–627
Kessler RW, Becker U, Kohler R, Goth B (1998) Steam explosion of flax—a superior technique for upgrading fibre value. Biomass Bioenergy 14:237–249
Kong K, Eichhorn SJ (2005) Crystalline and amorphous deformation of process-controlled cellulose-II fibres. Polymer 46:6380–6390
Northolt MG, den Decker P, Picken SJ, Baltussen JJM, Schlatmann R (2005) The tensile strength of polymer fibres. Adv Polym Sci 178:1–108
Rihm R (2003) Röntgen-Strukturuntersuchungen an Celluloseregeneratfasern. Dissertation, Technical University of Berlin
Seavey KC, Ghosh I, Davis RM, Glasser WG (2001) Continuous cellulose fiber-reinforced cellulose ester composites I. Manufacturing options. Cellulose 8:149–159
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Adusumalli, RB., Keckes, J., Martinschitz, K.J. et al. Comparison of molecular orientation and mechanical properties of lyocell fibre tow and staple fibres. Cellulose 16, 765–772 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-009-9292-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-009-9292-2