Swelling behaviour of succinylated fibers

The swelling behaviour of cellulosic fibers bearing various amounts of carboxylic groups introduced by succinylation was studied as a function of pH. Upon an increase of pH, the perimeter of the succinylated fibers expanded as measured with the Wilhelmy plate technique. The fibers pass two pH regimes of increased expansion, pH = 5 and pH = 9. These pH levels correlate with the conductometric titration, which reveals two inflection points in both the pH and conductivity values for the succinylated fibers. Determinations of fiber saturation points (FSP) confirm that the cell wall is largely affected by increased pH. Analysis of the fibers with ESEM (Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope) showed that bundles of fibrils were released from the surface of the succinylated fibers at higher pH. Wilhelmy measurements also showed that the surface roughness was more than doubled in fibers succinylated for 12 h as pH rose from 3.2 to 10. These results indicate that, as the charge of the fibers is increased, the swelling forces reach such levels of magnitude that they overcome the structural network forces holding the fiber wall together. The methodology applied can hence be used to quantify the fundamental gel properties of the fiber wall.