Cross-sectional structure of the secondary wall of wood fibers as affected by processing

Understanding the arrangement of wood polymers within the fiber wall is important for understanding the mechanical properties of the fibers themselves. Due to their high load bearing ability, the arrangement of cellulose fibrils within the cell wall are of special interest. In this work AFM-Atomic Force Microscopy-in combination with image processing has been used to obtain more information about the arrangement of cellulose aggregates (fibrils) in the secondary cell wall layer of spruce wood. The effects of chemical processing on the arrangement of these cellulose aggregates were also studied. Enlargement of cellulose aggregates was found in the initial phase of the kraft cook. This increase in cellulose aggregate dimensions depended mostly on temperature for treatment temperatures above 140degreesC, regardless of the amount of alkali present. Although hemicelluloses are lost to various degrees under alkaline conditions, the increase in cellulose aggregate size was mainly related to thermally induced rearrangement of the cellulose molecules. The mean side length of cellulose aggregates was found to be around 18 nm in unprocessed wood and 23 nm in processed wood. The cellulose aggregates were assumed to be square shaped in cross section in both cases. (C) 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers.