セルロースナノファイバー強化プラスチック

抄録

Plastic materials, due to its light weight, have greatly contributed to improving fuel efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by substituting metals in the fields of automobiles and aircraft. On the other hand, there are concerns about carbon dioxide emissions due to the use of fossil resources in the main raw materials and production processes. In addition, the seriousness of marine pollution caused by the outflow of plastics into the sea without being decomposed has been reported. Therefore modern plastics will be required to low environmental load such as improving the ratio of renewable resources and biodegradability while maintaining high strength, lightness and processability. Cellulose nano-fibers （CNFs） accounting for about half the dry weight of plants are the largest biomass resource on earth. The densities 1.5g/cm3 of the CNFs are lighter than glass fiber （2.5g/cm3） and carbon fiber （1.8g/cm3）, and the CNFs has higher modulus, higher strength, and low thermal expansion （0.1ppm/K）.　It is promising as a plastic reinforced fiber because it has the environmental performance required for modern plastic materials. “Kyoto Process” that a CNF-reinforced plastic integrated manufacturing process developed in Kyoto is introduced in this review. The performance and functionality of the obtained materials consisted of CNFs and plastics, their application development, and the utilization of CNF other than plastic applications in Kyoto are explained in detail.