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Mechanical properties of cellulose nanomaterials studied by contact resonance atomic force microscopy

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Abstract

Quantification of the mechanical properties of cellulose nanomaterials is key to the development of new cellulose nanomaterial based products. Using contact resonance atomic force microscopy we measured and mapped the transverse elastic modulus of three types of cellulosic nanoparticles: tunicate cellulose nanocrystals, wood cellulose nanocrystals, and wood cellulose nanofibrils. These modulus values were calculated with different contact mechanics models exploring the effects of cellulose geometry and thickness on the interpretation of the data. While intra-particle variations in modulus are detected, we did not observe a measureable difference in modulus between the three types of cellulose particles. Improved practices and experimental complications for the characterization of cellulosic nanomaterials with atomic force microscopy are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Forest Products laboratory (US Forest Service) Grant No. 12-CR-11111129-076 for funding this research. We are grateful to the Forest Products laboratory for providing the wood CN samples and Professor Christoph Weder (Université de Fribourg) for providing tunicate CN samples. We are also grateful for Jason Killgore (NIST) for helpful discussions regarding the contact resonance AFM technique.

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Author notes

  1. Ryan Wagner

    Present address: Material Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO, 80305, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Ryan Wagner & Arvind Raman

  2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Ryan Wagner & Arvind Raman

  3. Forest Products Laboratory, US Forest Service, Madison, WI, 53726, USA

    Robert J. Moon

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  1. Ryan Wagner
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Correspondence to Ryan Wagner.

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Partial contribution of FPL, an agency of the US government; not subject to copyright in the US.

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Wagner, R., Moon, R.J. & Raman, A. Mechanical properties of cellulose nanomaterials studied by contact resonance atomic force microscopy. Cellulose 23, 1031–1041 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-016-0883-4

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