%0 Journal Article
%T Evaluation of Inter-fiber Bonding in Wood Pulp Fibers by Chemical Force Microscopy
%A Dongbo Yan
%A Kecheng Li
%J Journal of Materials Science Research
%D 2012
%I 
%R 10.5539/jmsr.v2n1p23
%X Atomic force microscopy with chemically modified tips was used to evaluate the inter fiber bonding properties of typical wood pulp fibers. Using ¨COH functionalized AFM tips as a model of cellulosic pulp fiber surfaces, pull-off forces and work of adhesion were measured in aqueous media. Three distinct tip-surface interactions were identified from force-displacement curves, representing three typical surface conditions of wet pulp fiber surfaces: solid, swollen and micro-fibrillated. The work of adhesion calculated shows that van der Waals forces are the major contributing factor on non-swollen solid regions of fiber surfaces. The difference in inter-molecular bond strength of different pulp fibers is relatively small. The inter-fiber bonding properties of pulp fibers are mainly controlled by the surface deformability, which determines the area of molecular contact at fiber-fiber physical interaction points.
%U http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jmsr/article/view/20468