Effect of cellulose nanocrystals in a cellulosic liquid crystal behaviour under low shear (regime I): Structure and molecular dynamics

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Abstract

In the field of cellulosic liquid crystals, attempts to establish the relationship between structure/properties have been developed. Above a critical concentration in an aqueous solution, hydroxypropylcellulose self-assembles in order to form cholesteric liquid crystal phases (LC-HPC). In this work we aim to understand how the incorporation of a low content of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) within LC-HPC/H2O (50 wt%), could influence the behaviour of the system when subjected to low shear rates, where the cholesteric phase still persists. The analysis of the deuterium spectrum and the T-2 (transversal relaxation) values confirm that the mobility of LC-HPC at low shear rates is restricted due to CNC, and consequently so is the flow of the cholesteric polydomains. These effects are more evident in the some sample containing 2 wt% of CNC; besides needing more strain units to induce some degree of order, the achieved degree of order is recovered faster when compared to the reference sample.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)675-684
Number of pages10
JournalEuropean Polymer Journal
Volume84
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2016

Keywords

  • Cellulose nanocrystals
  • Liquid crystalline solution
  • Hydroxypropylcellulose
  • Rheology
  • Rheo-NMR

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