Work

Regenerated Cellulose Films Coated with Waterborne Polyurethane with Enhanced Mechanical Properties

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Regenerated cellulose (RC) films with abundant sources and low processing costs are considered to be excellent biodegradable and recycled packaging materials. However, there is still a problem to be solved: the poor strength of RC films in the wet state. Polyurethane (PU) possesses excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility and biodegradability. In this work, a PU coating is successfully introduced on the RC film surface via a facile surface engineering strategy, followed by plane hot-pressing process, and the RC@PU films are obtained. Notably, under wet conditions, RC@PU films show outstanding mechanical properties (fracture stress of 22.5 MPa, fracture strain of 75.9%, toughness of 10.6 MJ/m3), which are greater than those of the pure RC films (18.9 MPa, 56.5%, 6.9 MJ/m3). In addition, RC@PU films play an important role in anti-water evaporation tests. Moreover, RC@PU films exhibit excellent biodegradability, which can be completely degraded in a natural environment in about 70 days. This work provides a simple and feasible surface engineering strategy for developing RC films with excellent wet strength and biodegradability.

Source: Polymers

DOI: 10.3390/polym17070890

Authors: Renxiang Xiong, Jinping Zhou

Institution: Wuhan University

Language: English

Topic: Advanced Cellulose Research Studies

Subfield: Biomaterials

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Responsible consumption and production

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,258