New films produced from microfibrillated natural fibres

New types of microfibrillated materials (MM) from natural fibres such as wood pulp fibres, cotton fibres, tunicin cellulose, chitosan, silk fibres and collagen have been developed by a super-grinding method. The method consists of a unique, simple mechanical treatment which is designed to give shearing-stress to the longitudinal fibre axis of the fibrous samples. By the above method, microfibrillated fibres having diameters in the range 20–90nm could be obtained. As one of the applications of MM, formation of films without using an organic solvent has been attempted using MM from natural fibres. The films obtained had about 3–100μm thickness and were homogeneous, strong and translucent. Their tensile strength was much superior to those of commercial print grade papers. Films were also formed by mixing MM from different natural fibres in aqueous suspension. © 1998 Society of Chemical Industry