By the means of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), thermal behaviors were studied for linter cellulose, gel cellulose and amorphous cellulose over the range from 20°C to the decomposition temperature.
The glass transition temperatures (T
g) were 85°C and 55°C for linter cellulose and amorphous cellulose, while in the case of gel cellulose T
g could not be determined because endothermic deviation above T
g was cancelled by the starting of exothermic effect. The glass transition temperatures of various samples of cellulose under the state containing moisture (55% RH) were determined as 58°C, 58°C and 57°C for linter, gel and amorphous cellulose respectively. No lowering of T
g for amorphous cellulose by water absorption can be explained to be due to the increase of hydrogen bond.
Exothermic peaks were detected in the range 80-150°C for gel cellulose and 100-180°C for amorphous cellulose. No exothermic peak was found in linter cellulose. The heat evolved became smaller by the longer heat treatment near T
r But more pronounced decreasing of the heat was observed by the treatment at the temperature higher than 100°C. The effect of heating time was also found in these tem
The infrared spectra of amorphous cellulose was measured in the heating cell and it was found that the optical density of the band 1590 cm
-1 appeared with increasing temperature The variation of the band of 1590 cm
-1 coresponded to that of the exothermic peak of the thermogram.
Comparing with the IR spectra, the exothermic peak was, attributed to the increase of the hydrogen bonding. The evolved heat calculated from the thermogram of amorphous cellulose was about 2 cal/g, and so one hydrogen bond in 10 pyranose rings was related to this transition.
Viscoelastic behavior was also measured for amorphous cellulose. In the heating curve from room temperature to 190°C, two maximum of tan δ were found at 35°C and 130°C. In the cooling curve, the lower transition temperature shifted to higher temperature and the higher transition diappeared. So the viscoelastic behaviors corresponded well to the thermal behavior.
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