Cellulose-reinforced composites: from micro-to nanoscale

• Autor(a) principal: Dufresne,Alain
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Belgacem,Mohamed N.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Polímeros (São Carlos. Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-14282013000300001
• topic: Cellulose fibres; surface modification; composite materials; nanocomposites

This paper present the most relevant advances in the fields of: i) cellulose fibres surface modification; ii) cellulose fibres-based composite materials; and iii) nanocomposites based on cellulose whiskers or starch platelet-like nanoparticles. The real breakthroughs achieved in the first topic concern the use of solvent-free grafting process (plasma) and the grafting of the matrix at the surface of cellulose fibres through isocyanate-mediated grafting or thanks to "click chemistry". Concerning the second topic, it is worth to mention that for some cellulose/matrix combination and in the presence of adequate aids or specific surface treatment, high performance composite materials could be obtained. Finally, nanocomposites allow using the semi-crystalline nature and hierarchical structure of lignocellulosic fibres and starch granules to more deeply achieve this goal profitably exploited by Mother Nature