Characterization of the poly(vinyl alcohol)/cellulose whisker gel spun fibers

The current work reports the preparation and characterization of the nanocomposites reinforced with highly oriented cellulose whiskers (CWs) in a polymer matrix. The nanocomposites were prepared using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and a stable suspension of CWs prepared from cotton. The macroscopically homogeneous PVA–CW suspensions were gel spun. The produced fibers exhibited a high orientation of CWs in a direction parallel to the fiber axis. A DSC study of the PVA–CW fibers showed no crystallization exotherm during cooling after PVA melting due to the transformation of PVA to a polyene structure caused by the surface sulfate groups of the CWs. Storage modulus (E′) of the composite fibers showed outstanding enhancement with increasing CW content, even with a small amount of CWs (5 wt.% of solid PVA). This is attributed to the favorable interaction between PVA and the CWs through hydrogen bonding and effective stress transfer from PVA to the CWs.