Maiju Hietala

• Ph.D.(Tech)
• PostDoc Position at University of Oulu

Bio-based wood materials are preferable for composites because of their sustainability, but adequately dispersing wood fibers in polymers can be difficult and costly. Our approach was to pretreat the wood with a green solvent system, allowing the composite to be extruded in a single step, simplifying the process, and reducing the overall cost. This...

In the original publication, the affiliation of all the authors were processed incorrectly. It has been updated in this correction.

In this work, the defibrillation of cellulose fibers (CF) in the presence of hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) within the one-step twin-screw extrusion (TSE) process was examined. The effect of the TSE on cellulose fiber size reduction as well as CF-HEC biocomposites properties were investigated. The results showed that the TSE of cellulose fiber-hydrox...

In this study, lignin-based carbon nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning, followed by carbonization at four different temperatures (800, 1,000, 1,200, and 1,400°C). The surface and bulk elemental compositions were analyzed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. In addition, the structure of...

A method was developed for processing cellulose nanocomposites using conventional vacuum infusion. Porous cellulose nanofiber networks were prepared via ice-templating and used as preforms for impregnation with a bio-epoxy resin. Microscopy studies showed a unidirectionally oriented micrometer-scale pore structure that facilitated the infusion proc...

The article summarizes the scientific progress that has occurred in the past several years in regard to the preparation of carbon nanofibers from lignin as a low-cost environmentally-friendly raw material using electrospinning. It presents an overview of using lignin, electrospinning, and carbonization to convert lignin to carbon nanofibers. Lignin...

When aiming for higher resource efficiency, greater utilization of waste streams is needed. In this work, waste paper separated from mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) was studied as a potential starting material for the production of cellulose nanofibres (CNFs). The waste paper was treated using three different techniques, namely pulping, flotation...

Pelletizing is effective in compacting cellulose fibres, but it also causes fibre breakage and poor dispersion due to increased hydrogen bonding. This study investigated whether fibre dispersion and length could be improved by the addition of a lubricant, a commonly used composite processing aid, into cellulose pellets, or by using pelletized fibre...

The objective of this study was to investigate the use of peat as a potential lignocellulose source in composites manufactured by twin-screw extrusion. The effects of peat decomposition rate and particle size on the mechanical properties and moisture resistance of peat-polypropylene (PP) composites under cyclic conditions were evaluated. The proper...

A simple method for preparing redispersible nanofibers from sugar beet residue and their use as a well-dispersed reinforcement for a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix is reported. It is known that the redispersion of dried cellulose nanofibers is difficult because of the formation of strong hydrogen bonds between the nanofibers. The results show that...

Nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) has potential for use as a strength-enhancing additive in paper and paperboard applications. In this work, the effect of NFC on the mechanical and air resistance properties of semichemical fluting handsheets with and without talc filler was studied. Nanofibrillated dicarboxyl acid cellulose (DCC NFC) was prepared usi...

The efficiency of twin-screw extrusion process to fibrillate cellulose fibers into micro/nanosize in the same step as the compounding of green bionanocomposites of thermoplastic starch (TPS) with 10 wt % fibers was examined. The effect of the processing setup on micro/nanofibrillation and fiber dispersion/distribution in starch was studied using tw...

In this study the effect of processing parameters on different types of wood raw material in extrusion was examined. The study consisted of two parts: the first part was to break and separate individual fibers from wood chips during the extrusion process; in the second part the effect of chemical pre-treatment and screw elements on wood raw materia...

Wood chips were used as raw material in extrusion of wood?plastic composites. Wood?plastic composites with ?50?wt?% wood content were manufactured by using two different compounding methods. Dried and undried wood chips were used to investigate the effect of wood moisture content on the wood particle size and whether the drying process could be car...