Deinked and acetylated fiber of newspapers

Recently, the incorporation of lignocellulosic materials as reinforcing agents or as fillers in polymer composites has received an increased attention. Although natural fibers have a number of advantages over glass fibers, the strong polar character of their surface is a limiting factor, as compatibility with strongly apolar thermoplastic matrices is very low. Such problems of incompatibility may be overcome with fiber pretreatments, which can enhance compatibility, albeit having a negative impact on the economics. In this study, the newspaper is deinked and acetylated. The effect of esterification between the acetyl groups and the hydroxyl groups of the fiber was examined by Fourier transform infrared. X‐ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were used to characterize the crystallinity and the surface morphology of the untreated deinked and acetylated fibers (newspaper). The thermal stability of deinked and acetylated fibers was slightly decreased. It was also shown that the deinking increased the crystallinity of newspaper fibers while acetylating decreased this crystallinity. Cellulose acetate is one of the most important cellulose derivatives and its main applications are its use in composites. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013