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Abstract
Rayon is produced by the regeneration of cellulose through the cuprammonium process. The simple paper, Whatman filter paper or filter paper contains significant amounts of cellulose and it can be used to produce rayon fiber, specifically, cuprammonium rayon fiber. Which has application in textile and pharma packaging industries. The cuprammonium process can be useful for preparing rayon from waste papers. The preparation of rayon thread from different paper involves converting cellulose into a liquid compound and then back to cellulose in the form of a fiber. Reaction of cellulose with ammonia, copper sulphate and acid gives viscose, a soluble polymer that can be converted into Rayon. The Rayons were characterized by detecting as its melting point, solubility, density, moisture content, microscopic, element detection and burning test. The results are encouraging, and future work will include the application and study of packaging material for pharmaceuticals.
Keywords: Cuprammonium, Rayon, Biodegradable, Schweitzer's Solution.
1. Introduction
Rayon is derived from French word "rays of light" and was first sold as artificial silk1. Rayon is semi synthetic or artificial fiber representative of man's attempt to produce silk chemically. It is produced from cellulose, the fibrous material in plants that gives them their structure and strength. Cellulose extracted from wood is a major component of paper because filter paper contain significant amount of cellulose, it can be used to produce rayon fiber, specially cuprammonium rayon. Cuprammonium rayon is produced by a solution of cellulosic material in cuprammonium hydroxide solution at low temperature in a nitrogen atmosphere, followed by extruding through a spinnerette into a sulphuric acid solution necessary to decompose cuprammonium complex to cellulose. This is a more expensive process than that of viscose rayon. Its fiber cross-section is almost round2.
Cellulose is a chief structural component to which plants owe their rigidity and form. Cellulose is a natural polymeric material having fibrous structure. It is the principle component of the covering of plant cells. Cellulose represented by the formula (C6H10O5) is a linear polymer containing glucose units. Wood, cotton and other plants material are the main source of cellulose. In the pure form cellulose is present in cotton (98%)...