ABSTRACT
Surface modification of natural fibers has been made using different methods. In this paper, cellulose fibers from sugarcane bagasse were bleached and modified by zirconium oxychloride in situ. The chemically modified cellulose fibers were compared to those of bleached ones. Cellulose fibers were modified with ZrO(2).nH(2)O nanoparticles through the use of zirconium oxychloride in acidic medium in the presence of cellulose fibers using urea as the precipitating agent. The spatial distribution characterization of hydrous zirconium oxide on cellulose fibers was carried out by combining both processing and image analyses obtained by SEM and statistical methodologies. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric analysis (TG) were also used to characterize the nanocomposite. Results indicated that ZrO(2).nH(2)O nanoparticles of about 30-80nm diameter deposited on cellulose fibers were heterogeneously dispersed.
Subject(s)
Bleaching Agents/pharmacology , Cellulose/chemistry , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted , Saccharum/chemistry , Zirconium/pharmacology , Microscopy, Electron, Scanning , Nanocomposites/chemistry , Nanoparticles/chemistry , Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared , Surface Properties , Temperature , Water/chemistry , X-Ray DiffractionABSTRACT
In this research the spatial distribution characterization of niobium phosphate into bleached cellulose was carried out combining processing and images analysis obtained by SEM and statistical methodologies. The objective is to investigate the deposit composition and phosphate morphology by using complementary analytical techniques. Based on the proposed methodology, parameters of niobium phosphate agglomerates (size and shape) and fiber morphology were evaluated depending on gray-levels (average luminance and fiber type): fiber characteristics (morphology) were measured. For the test method proposed, a specific region of cellulose/NbOPO(4) x nH(2)O composite was analyzed. This method involves area fraction measuring with a conditional probabilistic analysis. The analyzed fields were divided in different ways, called 'Scanning' and as a result, in quantitative terms, the phosphate deposition was described as spatial distribution homogeneous or inhomogeneous. The quantitative microscopy as a non-destructive testing provides relevant information when it is combined with statistic analysis.