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Nicasy RJK, Waldner C, Erich SJF, Adan OCG, Hirn U, Huinink HP. Liquid uptake in porous cellulose sheets studied with UFI-NMR: Penetration, swelling and air displacement. Carbohydr Polym 2024; 326:121615. [PMID: 38142096 DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2023] [Revised: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/17/2023] [Indexed: 12/25/2023]
Abstract
Liquid penetration in porous cellulosic materials is crucial in many technological fields. The complex geometry, small pore size, and often fast timescale of liquid uptake makes the process hard to capture. Effects such as swelling, vapor transport, film flow and water transport within cellulosic material makes transport deviate from well-known relations such as Lucas-Washburn and Darcy's Law. In this work it is demonstrated how Ultra-Fast Imaging NMR can be used to simultaneously monitor the liquid distribution and swelling during capillary uptake of water with a temporal- and spatial resolution of 10 ms and 14.5-18 μm respectively. The measurements show that in a cellulose fiber sheet, within the first 65 ms, liquid first penetrates the whole sheet before swelling takes place for another 30 s. Furthermore, it was observed that the liquid front traps 15 v% of air which is slowly replaced by water during the final stage of liquid uptake. Our method makes it possible to simultaneously quantify the concentration of all three phases (solid, liquid and air) within porous materials during processes exceeding 50 ms (5 times the temporal resolution). We hence believe that the proposed method should also be useful to study liquid penetration, or water diffusion, into other porous cellulosic materials like foams, membranes, nonwovens, textiles and films.
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Affiliation(s)
- R J K Nicasy
- Eindhoven University of Technology, Applied Physics Department, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, the Netherlands.
| | - C Waldner
- Institute of Bioproducts and Paper Technology, TU Graz, Inffeldgasse 23, 8010 Graz, Austria; CD Laboratory for Fiber Swelling and Paper Performance, Inffeldgasse 23, 8010 Graz, Austria
| | - S J F Erich
- Eindhoven University of Technology, Applied Physics Department, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, the Netherlands; Organization of Applied Scientific Research, TNO, P.O. Box 49, Delft, 2600 AA, the Netherlands.
| | - O C G Adan
- Eindhoven University of Technology, Applied Physics Department, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, the Netherlands; Organization of Applied Scientific Research, TNO, P.O. Box 49, Delft, 2600 AA, the Netherlands.
| | - U Hirn
- Institute of Bioproducts and Paper Technology, TU Graz, Inffeldgasse 23, 8010 Graz, Austria; CD Laboratory for Fiber Swelling and Paper Performance, Inffeldgasse 23, 8010 Graz, Austria.
| | - H P Huinink
- Eindhoven University of Technology, Applied Physics Department, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, the Netherlands.
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Nicasy RJK, Huinink HP, Erich SJF, Adan OCG, Tomozeiu N. Ultra Fast Imaging NMR method for measuring fast transport processes in thin porous media. Magn Reson Imaging 2023; 103:61-74. [PMID: 37348740 DOI: 10.1016/j.mri.2023.06.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2023] [Revised: 06/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
Measuring moisture distributions during fast transport processes in thin porous media is a challenging task. In this paper, Ultra Fast Imaging (UFI) NMR is proposed as a valuable measurement technique for investigating moisture uptake in porous media by achieving a temporal resolution of 10 ms and spatial resolution between 14.5 and 18 μm. This paper gives a detailed explanation about the methodology and the interpretation of the signal intensity. It is shown that there exist specific T1- and T2- relaxation time conditions for performing UFI experiments with signal-to-noise ratios that are sufficiently high. In most cases, a contrast agent is required to optimize these relaxation times and achieve the optimal measurement conditions. In the first part of this paper, both CuSO4 and Clariscan are discussed as possible contrast agents. Furthermore, it is shown that the signal intensity can be linked to the moisture content for water based liquids. The second part of this paper covers penetration experiments on porous PVDF membranes. These measurements show that the technique is able to measure moisture profiles during fast capillary penetration and allows to extract moisture front positions. Those front positions follow a linear time behavior in PVDF membranes. Lastly the NMR-measurements showed similar results when compared to scanning absorptometry (ASA).
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Affiliation(s)
- R J K Nicasy
- Eindhoven University of Technology, Applied Physics Department, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, the Netherlands; Transport in Permeable Media group, Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, Eindhoven 5600 MB, the Netherlands
| | - H P Huinink
- Eindhoven University of Technology, Applied Physics Department, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, the Netherlands; Transport in Permeable Media group, Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, Eindhoven 5600 MB, the Netherlands; TNO Materials Solution, High Tech Campus 25, Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
| | - S J F Erich
- Eindhoven University of Technology, Applied Physics Department, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, the Netherlands; Organization of Applied Scientific Research, TNO, P.O. Box 49, Delft, 2600 AA, the Netherlands; Transport in Permeable Media group, Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, Eindhoven 5600 MB, the Netherlands
| | - O C G Adan
- Organization of Applied Scientific Research, TNO, P.O. Box 49, Delft, 2600 AA, the Netherlands
| | - N Tomozeiu
- Canon Production Printing, Research and Development, AM department, Venlo, the Netherlands; Transport in Permeable Media group, Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, Eindhoven 5600 MB, the Netherlands; Eindhoven Institute of Renewable Energy Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, Eindhoven 5600 MB, the Netherlands
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Changes in Natural Silk Fibres by Hydration, Tensile Loading and Heating as Studied by 1H NMR: Anisotropy in NMR Relaxation Times. Polymers (Basel) 2022; 14:polym14173665. [PMID: 36080741 PMCID: PMC9460615 DOI: 10.3390/polym14173665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2022] [Revised: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
B. mori silkworm natural silk is a fibrous biopolymer with a block copolymer design containing both hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions. Using 1H NMR relaxation, this work studied B. mori natural silk fibres oriented at 0° and 90° to the static magnetic field B0 to clarify how measured NMR parameters reflect the structure and anisotropic properties of hydrated silk fibres. The FTIR method was applied to monitor the changes in the silk I and β-sheet conformations. Unloaded B. mori silk fibres at different hydration levels (HL), the silk threads before and after tensile loading in water, and fibres after a stepped increase in temperature have been explored. NMR data discovered two components in T1 and T2 relaxations for both orientations of silk fibres (0° and 90°). For the slower T2 component, the results showed an obvious anisotropic effect with higher relaxation times for the silk fibres oriented at 90° to B0. The T1 component (water protons, HL = 0.11) was sequentially decreased over a range of fibres: 0° oriented, randomly oriented, silk B. mori cocoon, 90° oriented. The degree of anisotropy in T2 relaxation was decreasing with increasing HL. The T2 in silk threads oriented at 0° and 90° also showed anisotropy in increased HL (to 0.42 g H2O/g dry matter), at tensile loading, and at an increasing temperature towards 320 K. The changes in NMR parameters and different relaxation mechanisms affecting water molecular interactions and silk properties have been discussed. The findings provide new insights relating to the water anisotropy in hydrated Bombyx mori silk fibres at tensile loading and under a changing HL and temperature.
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