Paper and Fibre Research Institute (PFI), Høgskoleringen 6b, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway.
Micron. 2013 Jan;44:331-8. doi: 10.1016/j.micron.2012.08.005. Epub 2012 Aug 28.
The complementary capabilities of various characterisation methods for micro-structural assessment are demonstrated. The assessed structures were composed of unbleached microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) in combination with bleached and 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxyl (TEMPO) pre-treated MFC materials. The biodegradable nano-composites were thus characterised in detail, including laser profilometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in high and low vacuum modes, and field-emission SEM. The distribution of the unbleached MFC materials was assessed by staining the unbleached MFC with osmium tetroxide (OsO(4)), which reacts with C=C double bonds encountered in lignin. In addition, some properties of the MFC nano-composite films were tested, i.e. tensile properties, water wettability and oxygen permeability. In general, the group of characteristics of the nano-composite MFC films was better than the properties of the films made of the neat MFC qualities. This indicates that mixing complementary MFC qualities could give synergetic effects that are not exploited completely when using the MFC qualities separately. The study thus confirms the suitability of unbleached MFC materials as a component in multilayer structures, for example biodegradable packaging applications.
各种微观结构评估方法的互补能力得到了证明。所评估的结构由未漂白的微原纤纤维素（MFC）与漂白和 2,2,6,6-四甲基哌啶-1-氧基（TEMPO）预处理的 MFC 材料组合而成。因此，详细地对可生物降解的纳米复合材料进行了表征，包括激光轮廓法、高低真空扫描电子显微镜（SEM）和场发射 SEM。通过用锇四氧化物（OsO(4)）对未漂白的 MFC 进行染色来评估未漂白的 MFC 材料的分布，锇四氧化物与木质素中遇到的 C=C 双键反应。此外，还测试了 MFC 纳米复合材料薄膜的一些性能，即拉伸性能、润湿性和透气性。一般来说，纳米复合 MFC 薄膜的这组特性优于由纯 MFC 质量制成的薄膜的性能。这表明，混合互补的 MFC 质量可以产生协同效应，而当单独使用 MFC 质量时，这些协同效应并未得到充分利用。因此，该研究证实了未漂白的 MFC 材料作为多层结构的一种成分的适用性，例如可生物降解包装应用。
