Hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) and Exilva microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) can both be used as rheology modifiers in a variety of industries to prevent sedimentation and settling. In this article, I review the ability of the materials to give a yield stress in a waterbased system and, because of that, provide anti-settling and anti-sedimentation behavior. Tune-in on a comparison between these two rheology additives.
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Bio-based is on everyone's lips these days, and there are a high number of initiatives going on in innovating new product systems with a bio-based background. In this post I will give you a sneak peak into the improvement of an organic solvent system, using a biobased addtive as an example. Cellulose fibrils is a green and environmentally friendly material that consists of a complex three dimensional network of cellulose microfibrils.
Are you looking for a new additive for controlling rheology? In this article if will give you an explanation of the typical and well known rheology additive, and the Exilva Microfibrillated cellulose.
Ever heard about bouligand structures or tunicates? And how are these topics relating to nanocellulose? This week’s research review is giving you a summary of some really exciting news relating to strength performance from nanocellulose (nanocrystalline cellulose). In addition, we are bringing you news on nanocellulose as an art-preservation aid. Spend 4 minutes and read through some really interesting updates.
One of my favorite characteristics of the cellulose fibrils is its behavior when drying or involved in the drying process of a product system. I have learned through some of our conducted tests that cellulose fibrils can act in an interesting and often beneficial way towards obtaining desired end product characteristics. Most of the examples on how the fibrils influence the drying are related to coatings. I however believe that similar behavior is possible to observe in application areas where a tight control of dry-out properties is desired. Evaporation of solvents is often the main technique for drying in many applications. I will therefore focus my blog post this time on this specific drying technique. Let me share some very interesting insights into why cellulose fibrils are improving the products upon drying.
OK, so this case fascinated me a great deal. I have previously learned a lot on film forming properties, oxygen barrier properties and other related topics to this in the past. But recently I learned that the properties from microfibrillated cellulose and cellulose fibrils is starting to show potential in art preservation or conservation. But how does this take place, and what’s the main functionalities behind all this? I spent some time researching the subject, and today I am sharing my findings with you. Some key words: stability, transparency and mechanical strength. Dig in to learn more!
Printed electronics suit well for the current mega trends, like internet of things and growing interest in monitoring your own health. The products produced by printed electronics vary from displays and sensors to energy storage and flexible conductors. For example, small sensors can be printed on food packaging to follow the quality of food as well as warn the consumer when the product is out of date. For such reasons, the interest for developing materials for printed electronics is growing. How can cellulose fibrils and other cellulose based materials be used in such applications?
Making nanopaper is an good test on the characteristics of cellulose fibrils, and especially strength and durability. In this weeks blog from the Exilva blog, our H2020 partners at KTH are showing you how to make the nanopaper in a "step-by-step" practical example. The making of nanopaper quickly illustrates the strength performance you can get from this material once it forms paper or film. Spend a couple of minutes, and you will quickly understand why this material can take a leading part in the dual focus of increased sustainability and performance.
Cellulose fibrils are most often supplied as readily activated water suspensions. This maintains the product’s performance and makes it easy to incorporate into a formulation. It however brings up questions about the microbial stability of the suspension over time. Is the robustness of Cellulose fibrils enough in this case?
It is important for producers of coatings to control flow and stability. The way to do this in water borne systems has typically been a work for synthetically derived additives, water-soluble cellulose derivatives or clays. Can cellulose fibrils do anything new for you?
Is microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) the same as nanocellulose? What is the difference between micro- and nanofibrillated cellulose? What about cellulose nanocrystals and cellulose fibrils? Starting to read about MFC (or nanocellulose) might be confusing since the terms used for nano- and micro-sized cellulosic materials are versatile. Moreover, they are not totally established, so the same material can have different names or the same terms can be used for very different kind of materials. In this post, I will introduce the most common terms and distinguish synonyms from different materials.
