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The reinforcement potential of novel nanocellulose-based scaffolding reinforcements composed of microfibrils 5 to 50 nm in diameter and several microns in length was investigated. The cellulose nanofibril reinforcement was used to produce a three-dimensional scaffolding. A hybrid two-step approach using vacuum pressure and hot pressing was used to integrate the nanocellulose reinforcements in a liquid molding process with an epoxy resin to manufacture composites containing fiber volume contents ranging from 0.6% to 7.5%. The mechanical properties were studied using three-point bending. The...

We report on efficient solar cells on recyclable cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) substrates with a new device structure wherein polyethylenimine-modified Ag is used as the bottom electron-collecting electrode and high-conductivity poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS, PH1000) is used as the semitransparent top holecollecting electrode. The PEDOT:PSS top electrode is deposited by a film-transfer lamination technique. This dry process avoids swelling damage to the CNC substrate, which is observed when PEDOT:PSS is directly spin-coated from an aqueous solution....

Mature colonies of Reticulitermes spp. reproduce and spread mainly by secondary (rather than alate) reproductives throughout their geographical distribution, but especially near the northern boundaries of their range. Historically in Wisconsin, winged reproductives of the one established species, Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar), have been noted only a few times in ground-dwelling colonies and are thus not thought to spread in this manner. Previous research suggests that populations in Wisconsin were introduced by anthropogenic movement of infested materials, a hypothesis supported by...

Nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) is a renewable and biodegradable fibril that possesses high strength and stiffness resulting from high level hydrogen bonding. Films made from NFC shrink and distort as they transition from a wet state (20 wt% solids) to a state of moisture equilibrium (90 wt% solids at 50 % RH, 23 °C). Material distortions are driven by development of moisture gradients within the fibril network and effectively reduce mechanical performance. For this study, NFC was extracted from softwood holocellulose by first employing a chemical pretreatment [(2,2,6,6tetramethylpiperidin-...

Nanocomposite hydrogels were developed by cross-linking nanofibrillated cellulose with poly(methyl vinyl ether-co-maleic acid) and polyethylene glycol. The cross-linked hydrogels showed enhanced water absorption and gel content with the addition of nanocellulose. In addition, the thermal stability, mechanical strength, and modulus increased with an increase in the amount of nanocellulose in hydrogels, and this can be attributed to efficient cross-linking between the nanocellulose and the matrix. The addition of softwood nanocellulose showed much higher strength and strain properties in the...

Oxidative cleavage of the recalcitrant plant polymer lignin is a crucial step in global carbon cycling, and is accomplished most efficiently by fungi that cause white rot of wood. These basidiomycetes secrete many enzymes and metabolites with proposed ligninolytic roles, and it is not clear whether all of these agents are physiologically important during attack on natural lignocellulosic substrates. One new approach to this problem is to infer properties of ligninolytic oxidants from their spatial distribution relative to the fungus on the lignocellulose.We grew Phanerochaete chrysosporium...

Please note: The PDF copy of this publication is 45 MBs in size, so downloading this will take an extensive amount of time.The 18th International Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation of Wood Symposium was hosted by the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in Madison, Wisconsin, on September 24–27, 2013. This Symposium was a forum for those involved in nondestructive testing and evaluation (NDT/NDE) of wood and brought together many NDT/NDE users, suppliers, international researchers, representatives from various government agencies, and other groups to share research...

Using natural cellulosic fibers as fillers for biodegradable polymers can result in fully biodegradable composites. In this study, biodegradable nanocomposites were prepared using nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) as the reinforcement and poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate, PHBV) as the polymer matrix. PHBV powder was dispersed in water, mixed with an aqueous suspension of NFC fiber, and freeze-dried. The resulting PHBV/15 wt% NFC was then used as a master batch in a subsequent melt compounding process to produce nanocomposites of various formulations. Its properties such as its...

Solioccasus polychromus gen. & sp. nov., the most brightly colored hypogeous fungus known, is described from Papua New Guinea and tropical northern Australia south into subtropical forests along the Queensland coast and coastal mountains to near Brisbane. Phylogenetic analysis of molecular data places it as a sister genus to Bothia in the Boletineae, a clade of predominantly ectomycorrhizal boletes. Ectomycorrhizal trees, such as members of the Myrtaceae (Eucalyptus, Corymbia, Lophostemon, Melaleuca spp.) and Allocasuarina littoralis, were present usually in mixture or in some cases...

Direct Strain Imaging accomplishes full field measurement of the strain tensor on the surface of a deforming body, by utilizing arbitrarily oriented engineering strain measurements originating from digital imaging. In this paper an evaluation of the method’s performance with respect to its operating parameter space is presented along with a preliminary validation based on actual experiments on composite material specimens under tension. It has been shown that the method exhibits excellent accuracy characteristics and outperforms methods based on displacement differentiation.