Structural characterization and tribological evaluation of quince seed mucilage

Timo J. Hakala, Vesa Saikko, Suvi Arola, Tiina Ahlroos, Aino Helle, Petri Kuosmanen, Kenneth Holmberg, Markus B. Linder, Päivi Laaksonen (Corresponding Author)

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    37 Citations (Scopus)

    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 languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)24-31
    JournalTribology International
    Volume77
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014
    MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

    Keywords

    • Biolubrication
    • biomimetics
    • boundary lubrication
    • macromolecules

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