Investigation of the pyrolysis mechanisms of cellobiose in the presence of a polysiloxane

Treatment of cellulose yarns by a polysiloxane followed by a fast pyrolysis step gave carbon fibres exhibiting strong enhancement of their mechanical resistance. To account for the beneficial effect of the polysiloxane, an investigation of the pyrolysis mechanisms was performed on a model system based on cellobiose and a polysiloxane resin. A chemical interaction between cellobiose and the resin (e.g. grafting of siloxane fragments onto the cellobiose) was established by using various physicochemical analysis techniques: nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), photoelectron spectrometry (XPS), electronic paramagnetic resonance (EPR), Flash pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (FP/GC/MS) and IR.