Theoretical and experimental developments for accurate determination of crystallinity of cellulose I materials

Abstract

This work defines the crystallinity of cellulose I materials on a dry-weight basis. Theoretical and experimental developments in X-ray diffraction lead to a crystallinity determination method that is estimated to reach 1σ accuracies of better than 0.05 (crystallinity defined between 0 and 1). The method is based on Rietveld modelling, to resolve cellulose I Bragg peaks, and a standard truncated invariant integral. Corrections are derived to account for incoherent scattering, moisture content and other compositional deviations from pure cellulose. The experimental development uses X-ray diffraction in transmission fibre geometry with two-dimensional pattern Rietveld modelling, including a crystal-orientation distribution function. The crystallinities of a few commercial cellulose I materials were determined with the aim of illustrating the applicability of the method.