Effects of an aqueous surface modification via a grafting-through polymerization approach on the fibrillation and drying of bleached softwood kraft pulp

A simple, fully aqueous grafting-through polymerization approach was employed to apply various polymeric surface modifications to bleached softwood kraft pulp (BSKP). Poly(acrylamide), poly(acrylic acid), poly(oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate), poly(methyl methacrylate), and poly(dimethyl itaconate) were chemically attached to the BSKP fiber surface, as confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The modified and unmodified BSKP samples were fibrillated and evaluated using optical fiber length analysis and scanning electron microscopy analysis. Furthermore, the effect of the polymeric surface modifications before and after fibrillation on the filtration water retention value (WRV filtration ) was studied. While the polymeric surface modifications had little effect on the percentage of fines and width distribution of nanosized fibrils, they significantly reduced the WRV filtration after fibrillation. The polymeric surface modifications were also found to affect the morphology after drying and grinding.