Search

Cellulosic fibers with high aspect ratio have been firstly obtained from cornhusks via controlled swelling in organic solvent and simultaneous tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAOH) post treatment within restricted depth. Cornhusks, with around 42% cellulose content, are a copious and inexpensive source for natural fibers. However, cornhusk fibers at 20 tex obtained via small-molecule alkaline extraction were too coarse for textile applications. Continuous NaOH treatment would result in fine fibers but with length of about 0.5–1.5 mm, too short for textile use. In this research, post treatment using TMAOH and under controlled swelling significantly reduced fineness of cornhusk fibers from 21.3 ± 2.88 to 5.72 ± 0.21 tex. Fiber length was reduced from 105.47 ± 10.03 to 47.2 ± 27.4 mm. The cornhusk fibers had more oriented microstructures and cellulose content increased to 84.47%. Besides, cornhusk fibers had similar tenacity, longer elongation, and lower modulus compared to cotton and linen, which endowed them with durability and flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• GTs were used to prepare CS/GTs composite fiber by blended solution spinning. • CS/GTs fiber has higher dry and wet breaking strength. • Higher breaking strength was due to ionic cross-linking between chitosan and GTs. • CS/GTs fiber has significantly higher antimicrobial and fluorescent properties. Natural extracts gallnut tannins (GTs) were used as functional components to prepare chitosan/gallnut tannins (CS/GTs) composite fiber by blended solution spinning. Chitosan fiber has great potential to be used as absorbent suture and dressing due to its good biocompatibility. However, the weak mechanical properties limited its application. Chitosan and GTs were blended in aqueous solution of acetic acid to spin the composite fiber. The results indicated that CS/GTs fiber can be easily prepared due to the appropriate rheology characteristics for blended solution. Compared with pure chitosan fiber, CS/GTs fiber with 10% GTs showed lower hydrophilicity and higher dry, wet breaking strength by more than 40% due to ionic cross-linking between chitosan and GTs. The bacterial reduction to Staphylococcus aureus increased from 49.0 to 99.7% and about double green and red fluorescent intensity were observed for CS/GTs fiber. GTs have great potentiality in improving the properties of chitosan fiber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]