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.