What is Cellulose Acetate?
Cellulose Acetate is a natural plastic, which is manufactured from purified natural cellulose. Natural cellulose of the appropriate properties is derived primarily from two sources, cotton linters and wood pulp. In the manufacturing process of Cellulose Acetate, natural cellulose is reacted with acetic anhydride to produce Cellulose Acetate, which comes out in a flake form.This flake is then ground to a fine powder. Cellulose Acetate in primary form cannot be processed as a thermoplastic. It can only be processed by dissolving in a solvent and spinning or casting. However, it can be processed by normal plastics processing techniques in compounded form. For this, Cellulose Acetate has to be blended with a suitable combination of plasticizers and additives and melt compounded to get Cellulose Acetate Granules. Cellulose Acetate Granules can then be processed by all standard techniques. GENERAL PROPERTIES OF CELLULOSE ACETATE Cellulose Acetate Granules are a high performance thermoplastic
