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Quantification of the degree of mixing of cellulose nanocrystals in thermoplastics using Raman spectroscopy

AE Lewandowska, SJ Eichhorn

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

    41 Citations (Scopus)
    418 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Copyright © 2016 John Wiley Sons, Ltd. A combination of Raman imaging with image analysis has been used to quantify the degree of mixing of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) in melt compounded high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Raman spectroscopy is shown to provide an accurate ‘fingerprint’ of the composition of the cross-sectional area of the end section of a formed composite. This information is then converted to a chemical image allowing spatial quantification of the mixing of CNCs in the HDPE. A degree of mixing between CNCs and HDPE is reported, with a strong tendency for the former to agglomerate with little dispersion. Freeze-dried CNCs show better mixing with HDPE and a lower tendency to agglomerate than spray-dried CNCs. This approach shows the potential to use Raman spectroscopy to quantify the degree of mixing of CNCs in a thermoplastic matrix. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1337-1342
    Number of pages6
    JournalJournal of Raman Spectroscopy
    Volume47
    Issue number11
    Early online date1 Jul 2016
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 8 Nov 2016

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