The Rearrangement of Microfibrils in Dried Cellulose and the Implication of this Structure Alteration on Pulp Properties

Abstract

If we look at an electron micrograph like Fig. 1 representing a thin cellulose membrane hanging from a fibre that has been dried, we may at first suppose that this picture represents an artefact formed during the preparation or within the electron microscope. Pictures similar to this one found by Stemsrud on the membranes of bordered pits in pine wood were interpreted by him as natural perforations developing in pit membranes of older tracheids. We also had found perforated membranes in pine wood and we published our view in 1955, according to which this perforation is due to drying effects on cellulose. In autumn 1956, Frey-Wyssling, Miihlethaler and Moor described (in Mikroskopie) these perforations on thin cellulose membranes as being artefacts formed due to the heat of the metal and carbon shadowing procedure in the vacuum chamber.