Single fiber coating of viscose filaments with cellulose acetate for partially hydrophobic hybrid fibers

The focus of this work was to investigate the cellulose acetate (CA)–viscose (CV) interface in an all‐cellulosic compound and to evaluate the feasibility of hydrophobic CA‐coatings on viscose fibers. Mechanical strengths of cellulose foil‐CA compounds were investigated by recoding stress‐to‐strain curves. For equivalent strain, composites generate higher stress than pure CA samples. For the CA coating on CV fibers, fibers were pretreated in 2.5% by mass sodium hydroxide solution and drawn through a solution of 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, and 10% by mass in acetone dissolved CA. Properties of coated fibers were investigated with LSM microscopy, ATR‐FTIR, DVS, and by determining the fiber titer and tenacity. A decrease in fiber tenacity and vapor sorption is associated with a change of the fiber titer due to the increasing shares of CA. Therefore, the hypothesis of a hydrophobically coated CV fiber, via the described process, is mostly rejected, although double‐coatings with CA seem to reduce condensation of water in internal fiber structures at high humidity. Sketch of the production mechanism for partially hydrophobic viscos‐cellulose acetate fibers.