Cellulose and Cellulose Acetate

Cellulose is the most abundant natural polymer on earth, constituting a virtually inexhaustible source of raw material for creating environmentally friendly and biocompatible products that do not compete with the food chain. Due to an extended hydrogen-bond network, cellulose does not melt or soften and cannot be processed like conventional thermoplastics without chemical modification. In this chapter, an overview of cellulose raw materials and its molecular and supermolecular structure is given. Then the principles of shaping cellulose into fibres, films, and nonwovens by means of solution techniques are outlined, followed by a section on the properties and market applications of these materials. Derivatives of cellulose are presented, with special emphasis on thermoplastic cellulose esters, typical plasticizers and promising reinforcing materials. Finally, recent developments and future prospects for cellulose materials are reviewed as far as the above applications are concerned. This chapter does not cover the important applications of cellulose and ligno cellulose fibres for reinforcing thermoplastics, like wood plastic composites (WPC) and natural fibre reinforced plastics (NFRP), because in these cases cellulose does not substitute thermoplastics.