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Effect of nanocellulose fibers and acetylated nanocellulose fibers on properties of poly(ethylene‐ co ‐vinyl acetate) foams
Author(s) -
Zimmermann Matheus Vinícius Gregory,
da Silva Michelle Paola,
Zattera Ademir José,
Campomanes Santana Ruth Marlene
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.44760
Subject(s) - nanocellulose , nanofiber , cellulose , materials science , cellulose acetate , fiber , chemical engineering , vinyl acetate , polymer chemistry , cellulose fiber , composite material , copolymer , polymer , engineering
Cellulose nanofibers are promising materials in the development of polymeric foams, because they act as heterogeneous nucleation sites for the growth of cells during foaming. In this research, we studied the incorporation of cellulose nanoparticles in poly(ethylene‐ co ‐vinyl acetate)‐EVA foams. The foams were produced with different fiber contents. We observed the effect of a chemical treatment by acetylation on the cellulose fibber, that is, we evaluated the use of hydrophilic and hydrophobic cellulose nanofibers in EVA foams. The main results indicate that with the addition of only 1% of cellulose nanofibers, cell density significantly reduces when compared with the pure EVA foams. On the other hand, by increasing the cellulose content, the agglomeration of nanofibers also increases, which results in heterogeneous cell sizes. The same phenomenon was observed in the foams produced with acetylated cellulose nanofibers, regardless of the fiber content used. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134 , 44760.