Solubility behaviour of cellulose in a sodium hydrate/urea/thiourea aqueous solvent

Cellulose pulps were directly dissolved in a green solvent of sodium hydrate/urea/thiourea/water with different composition for the purpose to prepare new regenerated cellulose fibers or films. The results showed that the highest solubility of cellulose in the solvent with the composition of 8/8/6.5/77.5. The results revealed that the pulp feeding sequence, stirring rate, pre-treatment of pulp and pulp size affected the cellulose concentration in the green solvent. Accordingly, the more effective dissolution method was proposed in order to get higher concentration of cellulose. Furthermore, the properties of solution prepared by different kinds of pulps in the solvent were investigated by ARES rheometer. Rheological analyses indicated that all cellulose aqueous solutions in their high concentration were pseudoplastic fluids and sensitive to temperature and tended to transform to gel when temperature increased.