Image: ‘Sea’ filaments. Photo by Eeva Suorlahti.
TEAM
Design Driven Value Chains in the World of Cellulose (DWoC) Research
Meri Lundahl, Ville Klar, Ling Wang, Mariko Ago, Petri Kuosmanen, Orlando Rojas, Aalto University
Background
Nanocellulose demonstrates its full strength when effectively oriented inside a material. Orientation can be achieved by wet-spinning of nanocellulose into filaments.
Characteristics
Filament properties are controlled by the processing:
– Nozzle size, water content in nanocellulose, winding speed -> filament thickness
– Batch spinning of 5-50 cm filaments -> strong and stiff filaments, slow process
– Continuous spinning of up to 2 km/h -> brittle filaments, scalable process
– Water-repellent additive or coating -> Stability in water
Potential Applications
Nanocellulose filaments can be used as a reinforcement in composite materials where the combination of strength and light weight is important (e.g., materials for transportation).
Image: Wet-spinning line.
DWoC: Continuous Production of Nanocellulose Filaments (Long version) from DWoC on Vimeo.
Image: Half Sphere applications with filaments by researcher Tiina Härkäsalmi. Photo by Eeva Suorlahti.