Cellulose itself is a strong polymeric backbone that is highly accessible and renewable and therefore predestinated to be a convenient fiber-reinforcement. Nonetheless, it is often hampered due to sedimentation of the Cellulose fibers or for incompatibility reasons with respect to the resin matrix. To overcome these obstacles Cellulose aerogels can be used instead of adding loose Cellulose fibers aiming for the reinforcement of a desired thermoset. Cellulose Aerogels combine the strong cellulosic backbone with an accessible and high porosity (&gt;85%) resulting in a light yet stiff monolithic material. These Aerogels can be prepared by numerous routes that all involve the dissolution of the original Cellulose (e.g. in aqueous salt hydrate melts such as ZnCl2) followed by regeneration and drying in supercritical CO2. The final network consists of randomly arranged Cellulose fibrils (7-20 nm in diameter) that reveal a nano-felt like structure. In substituting the air in the obtained system with a thermoset matrix yields strong nanofiber-matrix composites. While fiber matrix composites most often use fiber fractions of more than 30% the nanoscale fibrils in the Cellulose aerogel show considerable effects on the mechanical properties while only minimally adding to the composite density with less than 10wt.% fiber fraction. As a result, Cellulose aerogels are clearly suited to reinforce polymer matrices providing their open-porous network for a mechanical interlocking of the matrix resin to give performance-competitive composites.

Cellulose Aerogel Reinforced Polymers (CARPs)

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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