Cellulose acetate fibers prepared from different raw materials with rapid synthesis method

•Cellulose materials were esterified with a fast transesterification method.•CA fibers were prepared by a simple and rapid process.•The obtained CA was analyzed by XRD, FT-IR, 1H, 13C and HSQC NMR.•The property of CA solutions and CA fibers were affected by cellulose's DP.

Transesterification is a mild process to prepare cellulose acetate (CA) as compared with the traditional method. In this study, CA fibers were produced from six cellulose raw materials based on a simple and rapid transesterification method. The properties of the CA solutions and the obtained CA fibers were investigated in detail. Results showed that all of the cellulose raw materials were esterified within 15 min, and spinning dopes could be obtained by concentrating the CA solutions via vacuum distillation. The XRD, FT-IR, 1H, 13C and HSQC NMR analysis confirmed the successful synthesis of CA. The degree of substitution (DS) of the obtained CA was significantly affected by the degree of polymerization (DP) of cellulose raw materials, which further influenced the viscosity of CA solutions as well as the structural, thermal and mechanical properties of the CA fibers.