Effect of the Loosening of Wood Texture on the Mercerization of Cellulose in Wood

When wood was treated with 23% aqueous sodium hydroxide followed by washing with water and drying, no lattice conversion of cellulose was observed under the experimental conditions employed. On the other hand, wood subjected to a pretreatment that results in the loosening of its morphological texture, upon mercerization, showed a varying degree of lattice conversion. The explosion process and the TFA (trifluoroacetic acid) treatment were used to achieve the loosening of wood texture. The lattice conversion of cellulose was studied by X-ray diffractograms. The extent of lattice conversion was found to depend on the conditions of the pretreatment used to achieve the loosening of wood texture. The extent of lattice conversion increased with an increase in the explosion temperature and the time at temperature, within the range of these experiments. Increased duration of TFA pretreatment, at a particular temperature, resulted in a higher degree of lattice conversion. These observed facts have been ascribed to the extent of loosening of the morphological texture of wood, which allows comparatively free swelling of cellulose in alkali.