Abstract
A simple, fully aqueous grafting-through polymerization approach was employed to apply various polymeric surface modifications to bleached softwood kraft pulp (BSKP). Poly(acrylamide), poly(acrylic acid), poly(oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate), poly(methyl methacrylate), and poly(dimethyl itaconate) were chemically attached to the BSKP fiber surface, as confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The modified and unmodified BSKP samples were fibrillated and evaluated using optical fiber length analysis and scanning electron microscopy analysis. Furthermore, the effect of the polymeric surface modifications before and after fibrillation on the filtration water retention value (WRVfiltration) was studied. While the polymeric surface modifications had little effect on the percentage of fines and width distribution of nanosized fibrils, they significantly reduced the WRVfiltration after fibrillation. The polymeric surface modifications were also found to affect the morphology after drying and grinding.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Dr. Emma Perry (University of Maine) for her help on the SEM training.
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This work was supported in part by funding from UT-Battelle LLC with the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 (subcontract # 4000174848).
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S.C. wrote the main manuscript text, performed experiments, analyzed data, and created figures. K.T. and E.S. performed experiments and analyzed data. W.G. secured funding and managed the project. All authors edited and reviewed the manuscript.
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Christau, S., Alyamac-Seydibeyoglu, E., Thayer, K. et al. Effects of an aqueous surface modification via a grafting-through polymerization approach on the fibrillation and drying of bleached softwood kraft pulp. Cellulose 30, 901–914 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-022-04938-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-022-04938-3