An investigation on interaction between nano crystalline cellulose and water-soluble polymers in aqueous solutions
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Abstract
In this research, the phase behavior of rod like nano crystalline cellulose (NCC) suspensions has been investigated. NCC suspensions with concentration at 1-4wt.% exhibited isotropic behavior,a mixture of isotropic-nematic behaviorat 4 - 6wt.%, and nematic phase behaviorat 7- 10wt.%. Then, both phase and rheological behaviors of NCC suspensions were investigated in the presence of polymers such as hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), dextran, and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) solutions. HEC revealed noticeable impact on phase behavior and induced depletion interaction in NCC-HEC mixtures. Dextran, because of its branched structure did not show thickening behavior in NCC-dextran mixtures. Light polarization and rheological tests showed that CMC can also induce depletion interaction in NCC-CMC mixtures. The effect of ionic strength was also studied by adding NaCl in CMC solutions.Increasing NaCl concentration caused considerable variation in rheological behavior of the samples and they turned into gel-like samples at high NaCl concentrations.