The Exilva Blog

OK, so this case fascinated me a great deal. I have previously learned a lot on film forming properties, oxygen barrier properties and other related topics to this in the past. But recently I learned that the properties from microfibrillated cellulose and cellulose fibrils is starting to show potential in art preservation or conservation. But how does this take place, and what’s the main functionalities behind all this? I spent some time researching the subject, and today I am sharing my findings with you. Some key words: stability, transparency and mechanical strength. Dig in to learn more!

Printed electronics suit well for the current mega trends, like internet of things and growing interest in monitoring your own health. The products produced by printed electronics vary from displays and sensors to energy storage and flexible conductors. For example, small sensors can be printed on food packaging to follow the quality of food as well as warn the consumer when the product is out of date. For such reasons, the interest for developing materials for printed electronics is growing. How can cellulose fibrils and other cellulose based materials be used in such applications?

Making nanopaper is an good test on the characteristics of cellulose fibrils, and especially strength and durability. In this weeks blog from the Exilva blog, our H2020 partners at KTH are showing you how to make the nanopaper in a "step-by-step" practical example. The making of nanopaper quickly illustrates the strength performance you can get from this material once it forms paper or film. Spend a couple of minutes, and you will quickly understand why this material can take a leading part in the dual focus of increased sustainability and performance.

Cellulose fibrils are most often supplied as readily activated water suspensions. This maintains the product’s performance and makes it easy to incorporate into a formulation. It however brings up questions about the microbial stability of the suspension over time. Is the robustness of Cellulose fibrils enough in this case?

It is important for producers of coatings to control flow and stability. The way to do this in water borne systems has typically been a work for synthetically derived additives, water-soluble cellulose derivatives or clays. Can cellulose fibrils do anything new for you?

Is microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) the same as nanocellulose? What is the difference between micro- and nanofibrillated cellulose? What about cellulose nanocrystals and cellulose fibrils? Starting to read about MFC (or nanocellulose) might be confusing since the terms used for nano- and micro-sized cellulosic materials are versatile. Moreover, they are not totally established, so the same material can have different names or the same terms can be used for very different kind of materials. In this post, I will introduce the most common terms and distinguish synonyms from different materials.

Continuously following the world of cellulose fibrils and the development is both dynamic and interesting. A lot of new inventions are taking place, based on the cellulose fibrils. We have given 3D printing a quite high focus in the last couple of reviews, but this week there are two other news items on the list: composites made from cellulose fibrils. Dig into this week’s research review to find out more on what might possibly be the next generation of composite materials.

The performance coatings sector has seen decades of development to protect installations and transportation equipment. The sector has been highly dominated by solvent based systems and these systems have seen incremental innovations for a long period of time.

Never heard of Cellulose Fibrils, like microfibrillated cellulose (often referred to as nanocellulose)? Don't worry, I will guide you through the things you need to know. It is a completely new additive made from natural raw materials, designed to provide yield stress, shear thinning, stability and barrier improvements. It is the natural alternative to outperform current oil-based technologies. I will during this article give you a quick overview of what cellulose fibrils, using the example of Exilva microfibrillated cellulose, is and how it can benefit you.