Orientation of native cellulose in an electric field.
Native cellulose has been oriented in an ac electric field at both the macroscopic and colloidal level. Ramie fiber fragments suspended in chloroform have been shown to point along the field. Cellulose microcrystal suspensions in cyclohexane have also been allowed to evaporate in an electric field and have exhibited a high degree of orientation when further examined by TEM and electron diffraction. Similarly, cellulose whisker suspensions showed increasing birefringence with increasing field strength and displayed interference Newton colors that saturated at around 2000 V cm(-)(1). A high degree of order of this suspension was also obtained by evaluating the induced birefringence with color charts.
Bordel
Damien
D
Centre de Recherches sur les Macromolécules Végétales, CERMAV-CNRS, ICMG, Université Joseph Fourier, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
Putaux
Jean-Luc
JL
Heux
Laurent
L
D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry*; D003116:Color; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004583:Electrons
D002482:Cellulose