Effects of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) treatment on interfibrillar structure of lyocell (TENCEL) fibres

摘要

Lyocell fibres were treated with tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) up to 1?5M, which wasndemonstrated to be more effective than LiOH, NaOH and KOH treatments at the same concentrationnin the sole interfibrillar swelling region. The porous structure of fibres was studied by inverse sizenexclusion chromatography to identify mean pore diameter, total pore area and accessible porenvolume. The mean pore diameter of fibres was not affected by TMAH treatments, which wasnanalogous to the effects of NaOH treatment. The degree of swelling, carboxyl content usingnmethylene blue sorption method, depth of colour measured after dyeing with C.I. Direct Red 81 andnweight loss changed gradually up to 1?5M. Wide angle X-ray diffraction analyses were applied tonidentify the crystallinity index and crystallite size normal to the 110, 1n–n10 and 020 planes. Treatmentnusing TMAH suggests new possibilities for the pretreatment of lyocell fibres owing to the usage ofnlower concentration to gain comparable results with the conventional NaOH treatment without loss inntensile properties and with less decrease in carboxyl content and weight loss.