Factors affecting the all‐cellulose composites (ACC) structure formation and their impact on mechanical properties and biodegradability

Abstract The aim of this work was to study in detail how the processing parameters affect the ACCs structure formation and what impact they have on their mechanical properties and biodegradability. For the preparation of the ACCs, a cellulose‐based textile consisting of linen/cotton = 55%/45% was used in combination with ionic liquid‐based impregnation solutions, with and without pre‐dissolved cellulose. It was observed that the density of the prepared composites increased with the increase of the cellulose ratio in the impregnation solution, consistent with a decrease of the porosity, which suggests a better filling of the cavities between the yarns with the matrix. No major impact on the tensile strength of the ACCs was induced by the cellulose addition into the impregnation solution, however a strong decrease of the elongation at break was recorded. The parallel orientation of the textile layers led to the formation of composites with lower density and higher porosity than those with perpendicular arrangement of the layers. A higher shrinkage during the drying step occurred for the perpendicular orientation. The values of the tensile strength seem to be less affected by the orientation of the layers, however, a perpendicular orientation reduces drastically the elongation at break.