Materials made from cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) have aspired to replace petroleum-based materials in transparent packaging applications for about two decades. The major reason is that such materials provide high transparency, strength, rigidity and barrier properties. However, fabrication of films from CNC and CNF dispersions is still at the laboratory scale or small pilot scale because it is both tedious and energy-consuming to dewater nanoparticle dispersions, regardless if it is by removal of water by membrane filtration or evaporation. As a way to solve the energy-consuming production of dry CNF films, we have developed a chemically modified fibre, herein referred to as self-fibrillating fibres, that can be fibrillated to CNFs after dewatering of excess water in a papermaking process. In other words, we have changed the order of the process steps of fabrication to gain a much faster and presumably more energy-efficient process [1]. This contribution firstly discloses our fundamental understanding of how the self-fibrillating fibres swell upon an increased pH and finally fibrillate, and the highly competitive properties of the transparent films fabricated [1,2]. Secondly, it discloses applications with other components, such as clay minerals and graphite, to also fabricate state-of-the-art composites [3].

Self-fibrillating fibers: A way towards energy-efficient fabrication of cellulose nanofibril films and composites

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