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Steam Processing of Regenerated Cellulose Fabric in Concentrated LiCl/Urea Solutions
Author(s) -
Tatárová Ivana,
MacNaughtan William,
Manian Avinash P.,
Široká Barbora,
Bechtold Thomas
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/mame.201100272
Subject(s) - materials science , aqueous solution , urea , swelling , cellulose , regenerated cellulose , superheated steam , shrinkage , chemical engineering , evaporation , composite material , urea formaldehyde , polymer chemistry , organic chemistry , superheating , chemistry , engineering , physics , adhesive , layer (electronics) , thermodynamics , condensed matter physics
Regenerated cellulose fibres exhibit strong swelling in concentrated aqueous LiCl/urea solutions. Dependent on treatment temperature and solution composition, fibre diameter increases from 15 µm at room temperature in water to 46 µm in LiCl/urea solution. Treatment in such solution is an alternative to the processing of regenerated cellulose fibres in alkaline solutions. To limit the amount of swelling solution used, the final concentrated solution is formed in a superheated steam atmosphere at 120–130 °C by water evaporation and equilibration. As a result of the treatments the ability of the fibres to hold dye changes and shrinkage of the fabric is observed, while losses in strength and sample weight are not significant.