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Arabinoxylan structure affects the reinforcement of films by microfibrillated cellulose

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Abstract

The chemical structure of rye arabinoxylan (rAX) was systematically modified, exploiting selective enzymes to mimic different naturally occurring xylans, i.e., its degree of substitution (DS) was decreased using α-l-arabinofuranosidase, and a controlled decrease in the degree of polymerization (DP) was performed using endo-1,4-β-d-xylanase. The arabinose to xylose ratio was decreased from 0.45 to 0.27 and the weight-average molar mass was decreased from 184,000 to 49,000 g/mol. The resulting samples were used to prepare films, as such, and with 15% (wt. − %) softwood-derived microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) to obtain novel plant-derived biocomposite materials. The enzymatic tailoring of rAX increased the crystallinity of films, evidenced by X-ray diffraction studies, and the addition of MFC to the debranched, low DS rAX induced the formation of ordered structures visible with polarizing optical microscopy. MFC decreased the moisture uptake of films and increased the relative humidity of softening of the films, detected with moisture scanning dynamic mechanical analysis. For the first time, the chemical structure of xylan was proven to significantly affect the reinforcement potential of nano-sized cellulose, as the tensile strength of films from high DP rAXs, but not that of low DP rAXs, clearly increased with the addition of MFC. At the same time, MFC only increased the Young’s modulus of films from rAX with high arabinose content, regardless of DP.

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Acknowledgments

The Academy of Finland and Formas are gratefully acknowledged for funding through the Wood Wisdom-Net Programme. COST Action FP0901 is thanked for funding of the Short Term Scientific Mission for KSM to Innventia, Sweden. Novozymes A/S is acknowledged for supplying the α-l-arabinofuranosidase. We thank Mikael Ankerfors (Innventia) for the preparation MFC, Mari Heikkilä (University of Helsinki) for assistance in the enzymatic treatments, and Hanna Komu and Susanna Heikkinen (University of Helsinki) for the determination of the AX composition of the samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Kirsi S. Mikkonen, Leena Pitkänen & Maija Tenkanen

  2. Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Ville Liljeström & Ritva Serimaa

  3. INNVENTIA AB, Fibre & Material Science, Box 5604, 114 86, Stockholm, Sweden

    Elina Mabasa Bergström & Lennart Salmén

Authors
  1. Kirsi S. Mikkonen
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  2. Leena Pitkänen
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  3. Ville Liljeström
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  4. Elina Mabasa Bergström
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  5. Ritva Serimaa
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  6. Lennart Salmén
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  7. Maija Tenkanen
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Correspondence to Kirsi S. Mikkonen.

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Mikkonen, K.S., Pitkänen, L., Liljeström, V. et al. Arabinoxylan structure affects the reinforcement of films by microfibrillated cellulose. Cellulose 19, 467–480 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-012-9655-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-012-9655-y

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