Effect of combined gamma-irradiation and alkali treatment on cotton-cellulose

Abstract

The influence of high-energy irradiation and sodium hydroxide treatment on the structure of cotton-cellulose was studied. The irradiation resulted in degradation of cellulose characterized by the decrease in the degree of polymerization (viscosimetry) and increase in the carbonyl content (FTIR, C=O stretching band at 1740 cm-1). The treatment with NaOH after irradiation had no significant effect on these characteristics. However as it was shown by XRD and SEM that the transformation of the crystalline structure from cellulose I to cellulose II was observed at lower alkaline concentration when irradiation pretreatment was applied. Copyright (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.