Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Cellulose and Dialcohol Cellulose under Dry and Moist Conditions

The development of wood-based thermoplastic polymersthat can replacesynthetic plastics is of high environmental importance, and previousstudies have indicated that cellulose-rich fiber containing dialcoholcellulose (ring-opened cellulose) is a very promising candidate material.In this study, molecular dynamics simulations, complemented with experiments,were used to investigate how and why the degree of ring opening influencesthe properties of dialcohol cellulose, and how temperature and presenceof water affect the material properties. Mechanical tensile properties,diffusion/mobility-related properties, densities, glass-transitiontemperatures, potential energies, hydrogen bonds, and free volumeswere simulated for amorphous cellulosic materials with 0-100%ring opening, at ambient and high (150 degrees C) temperatures, withand without water. The simulations showed that the impact of ringopenings, with respect to providing molecular mobility, was higherat high temperatures. This was also observed experimentally. Hence,the ring opening had the strongest beneficial effect on "processability"(reduced stiffness and strength) above the glass-transition temperatureand in wet conditions. It also had the effect of lowering the glass-transitiontemperature. The results here showed that molecular dynamics is avaluable tool in the development of wood-based materials with optimalthermoplastic properties.