Understanding key wet spinning parameters in an ionic liquid spun regenerated cellulosic fibre

The use of ionic liquid solvents for the
spinning of regenerated cellulose fibres has the
potential to produce both technical and textile grade
regenerated cellulose fibres. When spinning fibres,
many parameters impact the material properties of the
spun fibre. In this study, key wet spinning parameters
have been investigated for the development of regenerated
cellulose fibres from ionic liquid solutions. The
coagulation and associated diffusion equilibrium were
calculated for two imidazolium-based ILs, and it was
found that the anion largely influenced the coagulation
kinetics. This was likely due to the association
between the anion of the IL and cellulose. The
orientation of the polymer chains is known to influence
the mechanical properties greatly; previously, hot
stretching was used to orientate cellulose acetate. Here
we investigated this influence on the mechanical
properties of regenerated cellulose fibres by applying a
post stretch at different stretch ratios.