A rapid method for the production of fibrillar cellulose films and an insight on their properties

The ultimate goal of this project was to develop a practical and economical process for industrial fibrillar cellulose film production. The first aim of the work was to develop a fast and practical method for the production of fibrillated cellulose films for them to be made in minutes instead of hours. In the second stage, films made of different fibrillar cellulose grades were analyzed to determine those levels of properties achievable with this method, and how much they depend on the diverse properties of different grades. The analyses of these films showed that the differences between fibrillar cellulose grades had slight or no effect on the measured film properties, whereas relative humidity had significant effect. AFM-images and oxygen transmission measurements indicated the similarity in film structures. The new production method was found useful in studies of film properties because of its high production rate and even film quality. The results also showed that the energy consumption on fibrillated cellulose production does not correlate with the film quality.