Abstract
The mucilage, originating from the seeds of quince fruit was characterized as a potential bio-inspired water-based lubricant. The mucilage consists mainly of fine cellulose nanofibrils and charged hemicelluloses whose structure and properties were characterized here by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and tribological Pin-On-Disc (POD) experiments. The hemicellulose-decorated nanocellulose fibrils were 3.0±0.7 nm in thickness, had a very large aspect ratio and also had a tendency to self-align when dried on mica surface. Macroscale tribological tests showed that the mucilage was able to reduce the coefficient of friction of polyethylene/stainless steel contact to values below 0.03. Thus, we show that quince mucilage is a native nanocellulose material with a notable ability to lower friction.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 24-31 |
Journal | Tribology International |
Volume | 77 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- Biolubrication
- biomimetics
- boundary lubrication
- macromolecules