Critical discussion on the thermal behavior of sulfated cellulose nanocrystals, TAPPI JOURNAL June 2016

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ABSTRACT: Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have evolved from a laboratory curiosity to an industrial material manufactured at a scale of up to 1 ton/day. In order to maximize their use in various applications such as composites, it is critical to evaluate the influence of the surface chemistry on their thermal stability. The effect of temperature on native CNCs is heavily damaging to the material integrity, but the early stage temperature-catalyzed degradation process can be prevented by neutralization of the surface sulfate half-ester groups, either by organic or inorganic counterions. In addition, we studied the influence of the hydrolysis conditions on the CNCs’ resistance to elevated temperatures. The observations were carried out by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Finally, complementary work regarding color formation when CNCs are exposed to heat is presented.

Application: Thermogravimetric analysis is employed to characterize the decomposition, the degradation kinetics, or the thermal stability of materials. It consists of recording the mass loss of a material as a function of temperature in a controlled atmosphere (i.e., air, vacuum, reaction gases, etc.). Our aim was to combine various approaches and propose a method for the determination of precise and accurate values of thermal stability when working with cellulosic nanocrystals.