Abstract
Uniaxially oriented cellulose nanofibers were fabricated by electrospinning on a rotating cylinder collector. The fiber angular standard deviation (a parameter of fiber orientation) of the mats was varied from 65.6 to 26.2o by adjusting the rotational speed of the collector. Optically transparent epoxy resin composite films reinforced with the electrospun cellulose nanofibrous mats were then prepared by the solution impregnation method. The fiber content in the composite films was in the range of 5–30 wt%. Scanning electron microscopy studies showed that epoxy resin infiltrated and completely filled the pores in the mats. Indistinct epoxy/fiber interfaces, epoxy beads adhering on the fiber surfaces, and torn fiber remnants were found on the fractured composite film surfaces, indicating that the epoxy resin and cellulose fibers formed good interfacial adherence through hydrogen-bonding interaction. In the visible light range, the light transmittance was 88–92% for composite films with fiber loadings of 16–32 wt%. Compared to the composite films reinforced with 20 wt% randomly oriented fibers, the mechanical strength and Young’s modulus of the composite films reinforced with same amount of aligned fibers increased by 71 and 61%, respectively. Dynamical mechanical analysis showed that the storage moduli of the composite films were greatly reinforced in the temperature above the glass transition temperature of the epoxy resin matrix.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agarwal BD, Broutman LJ (1980) Analysis and performance of fiber composites. Wiley, New York, pp 54–120
Azizi Samir MAS, Alloin F, Dufresne A (2005) Review of recent research into cellulosic whiskers, their properties and their application in nanocomposite field. Biomacromolecules 6:612–626
Bashur CA, Dahlgren LA, Goldstein AS (2006) Effect of fiber diameter and orientation on fibroblast morphology and proliferation on electrospun poly (D, L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) meshes. Biomaterials 27(33):5681–5688
Berglund LA, Peijs T (2010) Cellulose biocomposites-from bulk moldings to nanostructured systems. MRS Bull 35(3):201–207
Chen GFS, Liu HQ (2008) Electrospun cellulose nanofiber reinforced soybean protein isolate composite film. J Appl Polym Sci 110(2):641–646
Favier V, Chanzy H, Cavaille JY (1995) Polymer nanocomposites reinforced by cellulose whiskers. Macromolecules 28(18):6365–6367
Greiner A, Wendorff JH (2007) Electrospinning: a fascinating method for the preparation of ultrathin fibers. Angew Chem-Int Edit 46:5670–5703
Habibi Y, Lucia LA, Rojas OJ (2010) Cellulose nanocrystals: chemistry, self-assembly, and applications. Chem Rev 110(6):3479–3500
Huang ZM, Zhang YZ, Kotaki M, Ramakrishna S (2003) A review on polymer nanofibers by electrospinning and their applications in nanocomposites. Compos Sci Technol 63(15):2223–2253
Ifuku S, Morooka S, Morimoto M, Saimoto H (2010) Acetylation of chitin nanofibers and their transparent nanocomposite films. Biomacromolecules 11(5):1326–1330
Jonoobi M, Harun J, Mathew AP, Oksman K (2010) Mechanical properties of cellulose nanofiber (CNF) reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) prepared by twin screw extrusion. Compos Sci Technol 70(12):1742–1747
Leitner J, Hinterstoisser B, Wastyn M, Keckes J, Gindl W (2007) Sugar beet cellulose nanofibril-reinforced composites. Cellulose 14(5):419–425
Li D, Xia YN (2004) Electrospinning of nanofibers: reinventing the wheel? Adv Mater 16(14):1151–1170
Liu HQ, Hsieh YL (2002) Ultrafine fibrous cellulose membranes from electrospinning of cellulose acetate. J Polym Sci Pt B-Polym Phys 40(18):2119–2129
Mark JE (ed) (2007) Physical properties of polymers handbook, 2nd edn. Springer, New York
Mikkonen KS, Mathew AP, Pirkkalainen K, Serimaa R, Xu CL, Willfor S, Oksman K, Tenkanen M (2010) Glucomannan composite films with cellulose nanowhiskers. Cellulose 17(1):69–81
Okahisa Y, Yoshida A, Miyaguchi S, Yano H (2009) Optically transparent wood-cellulose nanocomposite as a base substrate for flexible organic light-emitting diode displays. Compos Sci Technol 69(11–12):1958–1961
Qi HS, Cai J, Zhang LN, Kuga S (2009) Properties of films composed of cellulose nanowhiskers and a cellulose matrix regenerated from alkali/urea solution. Biomacromolecules 10:1597–1602
Reneker DH, Chun I (1996) Nanometre diameter fibres of polymer, produced by electrospinning. Nanotechnology 7(3):216–223
Rusli R, Shanmuganathan K, Rowan SJ, Weder C, Eichhorn SJ (2010) Stress-transfer in anisotropic and environmentally adaptive cellulose whisker nanocomposites. Biomacromolecules 11(3):762–768
Seavey KC, Ghosh I, Davis RM, Glasser WG (2001) Continuous cellulose fiber-reinforced cellulose ester composites I. Manufacturing options. Cellulose 8(2):149–159
Siqueira G, Bras J, Dufresne A (2009) Cellulose whiskers versus microfibrils: influence of the nature of the nanoparticle and its surface functionalization on the thermal and mechanical properties of nanocomposites. Biomacromolecules 10(2):425–432
Soliman S, Pagliari S, Rinaldi A, Forte G, Fiaccavento R, Pagliri F, Franzese O, Minieri PM, Nardo D, Licoccia S, Traversa E (2010) Multiscale three-dimensional scaffolds for soft tissue engineering via multimodal electrospinning. Acta Biomater 6(4):1227–1237
Sun W, Cai Q, Li P, Deng X, Wei Y, Xu M, Yang X (2010) Post-draw PAN-PMMA nanofiber reinforced and toughened Bis-GMA dental restorative composite. Dental Mater 26(9):873–880
Tang CY, Liu HQ (2008) Cellulose nanofiber reinforced poly(vinyl alcohol) composite film with high visible light transmittance. Composites A 39(10):1638–1643
Tang LM, Weder C (2010) Cellulose whisker/epoxy resin nanocomposites. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2(4):1073–1080
Tang CY, Wu MY, Wu YQ, Liu HQ (2011) Effects of fiber surface chemistry and size on the structure and properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) composite Films reinforced with electrospun fibers. Composites A 42(9):1100–1109
Yano H, Sugiyama J, Nakagaito AN, Nogi M, Matsumura K, Hakita M, Handa K (2005) Optically transparent composites reinforced with networks of bacterial nanofibers. Adv Mater 17(2):153
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 50973019, 50843030), the National Basic Research Program of China (2010CB732203), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (2010J06017).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liao, H., Wu, Y., Wu, M. et al. Aligned electrospun cellulose fibers reinforced epoxy resin composite films with high visible light transmittance. Cellulose 19, 111–119 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-011-9604-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-011-9604-1