Issue 4, 2023

Particle alignment effects on mechanical properties of cellulose nanocrystal thin films

Abstract

Cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) thin films are of increasing interest as sustainable materials due to their anisotropic mechanical properties. Previous computational work has shown that the fracture mechanisms of CNC films vary as a function of particle alignment with respect to the loading direction. However, it is challenging to experimentally measure the mechanical anisotropy of extremely thin CNC films due to their brittleness. Here, a new experimental approach was developed to identify the effect of CNC alignment on modulus while simultaneously observing the fracture mechanisms. In this method, uniaxial tensile strain is applied to a CNC film laminated on a silicone substrate with a mechanical stage mounted over a microscope. The modulus calculated by measuring the wavelength of wrinkles that formed perpendicular to the tensile strain direction at low strains during mechanical testing. The elastic modulus of CNC films decayed exponentially as the misalignment of particles to the loading direction increased. By carrying out coarse-grained modeling and comparing the misalignment angle with the crack opening direction beyond the fracture strains, fracture mechanism dependence on misalignment was observed.

Graphical abstract: Particle alignment effects on mechanical properties of cellulose nanocrystal thin films

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 ago 2022
Accepted
26 jan 2023
First published
26 jan 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Mater. Adv., 2023,4, 1053-1061

Particle alignment effects on mechanical properties of cellulose nanocrystal thin films

H. Son, D. M. Smith, Z. Li, T. Chang, W. Xia and C. S. Davis, Mater. Adv., 2023, 4, 1053 DOI: 10.1039/D2MA00870J

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements