Waxs Studies of Salix Viminalis Wood Susceptibility to Alkali Treatment
Research and development
Authors:
- Doczekalska Beata
Insitute of Chemical Wood Technology, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland - Borysiak Sławomir
Institute of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Poznan University of Technology, Poznań, Poland
 Full text | Abstract: Comminuted willow wood (Salix viminalis) was treated with sodium hydroxide solutions of 10, 15, 20 and 25% NaOH concentration, for 15, 30, 45, 60 and 90 minutes for each case of NaOH concentration. The WAXS method was used to estimate the content of cellulose II with reference to a global amount of crystalline cellulose included in the wood and gravimetric measurements were performed to estimate the mass losses caused by the alkali treatment of the wood. As a result, the changes in both the index of cellulose II content and the WPG index for the treatment period and for the NaOH concentration have been determined. In particular, it was established that: i) no cellulose I/cellulose II polymorphic transformation occurs even with 90-minute action of 10% NaOH solution, ii) the index of cellulose II content ranges from 46% with 15-minute action of 15% NaOH solution to 66% with 90-minute action of 25% NaOH solution, iii) irrespective of NaOH concentration, the WPG index approaches ca. -20% with the 15-minute treatment and then increases only to ca. -24% with the 90-minute treatment |
Tags: X-ray diffraction, cellulose, mercerization, WPG index, willow wood.