Issue 7, 2012
From the journal:

RSC Advances

A comparative study of air-dry and water swollen flax and cotton fibres

Sergey V. Mikhalovsky,*a   Vladimir M. Gun'ko,ab   Vladimir A. Bershtein,c   Vladimir V. Turov,b   Larisa M. Egorova,c   Claudine Morvand  and  Lyuba I. Mikhalovskaa  

* Corresponding authors

a School of Pharmacy & Biomolecular Sciences, University of Brighton, Lewes Road, Brighton BN2 4GJ, UK
E-mail: s.mikhalovsky@brighton.ac.uk
Fax: +44 (0)1273642115
Tel: +44 (0)1273 642034

b Chuiko Institute of Surface Chemistry, 17 General Naumov Str., Kiev, Ukraine
E-mail: vlad.gunko@ukr.net
Fax: +380 44 4243567
Tel: +380 44 4229627

c Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute RAS, 194021 St-Petersburg, Russia
E-mail: vbersht.polmater@mail.ioffe.ru

d Universite de Rouen/CNRS, UFR des Sciences, 76821 Mon-Saint-Aignan Cedex, France
E-mail: claudine.morvan@univ-rouen.fr

Abstract

Thermal stability and structural characteristics of air-dry and swollen crude flax, bleached flax and cotton fibres and the behaviour of bound water were analysed using thermogravimetry, microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, low-temperature 1H NMR spectroscopy and cryoporometry methods. Both air-dry and swollen fibres contain strongly (SBW) and weakly (WBW) bound water which differ in their behaviour at temperatures below 273 K. All samples have a higher content of SBW than WBW because of the structural features of natural fibres. The air-dry fibres studied have low porosity and similar inner mesoporous structure. The air-dry fibre samples of both cotton and bleached flax contain mainly SBW located in nanopores with radius R < 1–2 nm. In addition to SBW, the swollen fibres contain a significant fraction of WBW, which is located in mesopores with 1 < R < 10 nm, and practically unbound bulk water in large mesopores at R > 10 nm. According to cryoporometry, swelling substantially increases the pore volume (by a factor of 20–30) and specific surface area Smeso (two–three times) of fibres in the mesoporous region. The largest changes were observed in cotton fibres, owing to their chemical structure and textural characteristics affected by swelling. In the nanopore range, swelling reduced the specific surface area of nanopores (Snano) in cotton fibres and increased Snano in flax fibres, so that for air-dry samples of all fibres Snano > Smeso but for swollen samples Snano < Smeso.

Graphical abstract: A comparative study of air-dry and water swollen flax and cotton fibres

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C2RA00609J
Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Aug 2011
Accepted
05 Jan 2012
First published
10 Feb 2012

RSC Adv., 2012,2, 2868-2874

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A comparative study of air-dry and water swollen flax and cotton fibres

S. V. Mikhalovsky, V. M. Gun'ko, V. A. Bershtein, V. V. Turov, L. M. Egorova, C. Morvan and L. I. Mikhalovska, RSC Adv., 2012, 2, 2868 DOI: 10.1039/C2RA00609J

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