Cellulose whiskers from sisal fibers: a study about the variable of extraction by acid hydrolysis

The incorporation of cellulosic nanostructures in polymeric matrices has been studied due to their properties of biodegradation, and expected higher mechanical performance than the traditional composites. In this work, cellulose nanofibers were obtained from sisal bleached with reagents without chlorine, where it was used an acid mixture, with acetic acid and nitric acid, and after the bleached fibers were submitted to acid hydrolysis. The influence of the temperature and time of hydrolysis on the morphology and dimensions, crystallinity and thermal stability were analyzed by scanning transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), respectively. The hydrolysis condition of 60 deg C and 15 minutes showed to be the most effective condition to obtain whiskers from sisal fibers, resulting in nanostructures with higher crystallinity and thermal. (author)