A porous body is placed in a rectangular parallelepipedal casing made of a stainless steel to prepare a mold form. A CNF-containing slurry is charged into the mold form, and another porous body is placed on the CNF-containing slurry. If the CNF-containing slurry are enwrapped in a nylon mesh, leakage of the CNF-containing slurry from a gap between the mold form and the porous body or clogging of the porous bodies can be inhibited. The upper and lower porous bodies are heated while applying a load to the CNF-containing slurry for a desired period of time to effect hot pressing, thereby obtaining a desired molded product. This provides a method for molding CNFs which enables a CNF molded product having a three-dimensional configuration to be obtained at a high productivity, and the CNF molded product obtained by the method for molding CNFs.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) exhibit high electrical and thermal conductivity and good mechanical properties, making them suitable fillers for composites. Their effectiveness as a filler is affected by their state of aggregation. Novel ordered helical wrapping of poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) has been achieved on single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). This carbon nanotube composite not only thwarts CNT aggregation, but also may be successfully leveraged for applications such as electrical energy storage and mechanical reinforcement.

A cigarette paper contains pulp fibers and filler particles, whereby at least 20% of the filler particles, by mass or by particle number, have a flaked shape. The flaked filler particles have a length l, a width b and a thickness d, which correspond to the respective maximum extension in three mutually orthogonal spatial directions, whereby the length l as well as the width b are at least twice as large as the thickness d. The mass-specific median value d.sub.50 of the particle size distribution measured according to ISO 13317-3 is between 0.2 μm and 4.0 μm, and the flaked particles are formed by calcium carbonate.

A cigarette paper contains pulp fibers and filler particles, whereby at least 20% of the filler particles, by mass or by particle number, have a flaked shape. The flaked filler particles have a length l, a width b and a thickness d, which correspond to the respective maximum extension in three mutually orthogonal spatial directions, whereby the length l as well as the width b are at least twice as large as the thickness d. The mass-specific median value d.sub.50 of the particle size distribution measured according to ISO 13317-3 is between 0.2 μm and 4.0 μm, and the flaked particles are formed by calcium carbonate.

A sheet having dead-fold properties, wherein said sheet comprises cellulose fibers whereof at least 75%, preferably at least 90%, or more preferably at least 95% of said cellulose fibers have a fiber length of less than 1 mm, and wherein the tensile strength ratio (MD/CD) of the film is above 1.4, preferably higher than 1.6 and most preferably higher than 1.8.

A sheet having dead-fold properties, wherein said sheet comprises cellulose fibers whereof at least 75%, preferably at least 90%, or more preferably at least 95% of said cellulose fibers have a fiber length of less than 1 mm, and wherein the tensile strength ratio (MD/CD) of the film is above 1.4, preferably higher than 1.6 and most preferably higher than 1.8.

The present invention relates to surface-mineralized organic fibers comprising organic fibers having a length in the millimeter range, the surface of which is at least partially coated with finely divided alkaline earth carbonate nanoparticles by means of binders based on copolymers comprising as monomers one or more dicarboxylic acids and one or more monomers from the group of diamines, triamines, dialkanolamines or trialkanolamines and epichlorohydrin, a method for producing such surface-mineralized organic fibers, aqueous slurries thereof, their use in papermaking, in surface finishing of paper, plastic, cement and clay surfaces, in paints and varnishes and the use of the inventive binders for coating the organic fibers with nano alkaline earth carbonates.

The present invention relates to a porous sheet comprising cellulose fibers having an average fiber diameter ranging from 20 to 500 nm; cut fibers having an average fiber diameter ranging from 1.5 to 20 μm; and a hydrophilic polymer binder, wherein an amount of the cut fibers is 1% by weight or more and 80% by weight or less based on the total weight of the cellulose fibers and the cut fibers, and an amount of the hydrophilic polymer binder is 5 parts by weight or more and 30 parts by weight or less with respect to 100 parts by weight of the total weight of the cellulose fibers and the cut fibers. The porous sheet of the present invention can exhibit a superior strength (in particular, both tear strength and tensile strength), and exhibits a superior performance as a separator for an electrochemical device.

The present invention relates to a porous sheet comprising cellulose fibers having an average fiber diameter ranging from 20 to 500 nm; cut fibers having an average fiber diameter ranging from 1.5 to 20 μm; and a hydrophilic polymer binder, wherein an amount of the cut fibers is 1% by weight or more and 80% by weight or less based on the total weight of the cellulose fibers and the cut fibers, and an amount of the hydrophilic polymer binder is 5 parts by weight or more and 30 parts by weight or less with respect to 100 parts by weight of the total weight of the cellulose fibers and the cut fibers. The porous sheet of the present invention can exhibit a superior strength (in particular, both tear strength and tensile strength), and exhibits a superior performance as a separator for an electrochemical device.

Provided is a method of producing a structure for producing a casting, including: a process (I) of obtaining a slurry composition containing an organic fiber, an inorganic fiber, a thermosetting resin, and water; a process (II) of obtaining a fiber laminate by subjecting the slurry composition to papermaking; and a process (III) of dehydrating the fiber laminate and thereafter drying the resultant, in which the process (I) includes a process (I-1) of beating a mixture containing the organic fiber and water, a process (I-2) of mixing the mixture obtained in the process (I-1) and water, and a process (I-3) of mixing the mixture obtained in the process (I-2) and the inorganic fiber, the thermosetting resin is mixed in at least any of the process (I-1), the process (I-2), and the process (I-3), and an average fiber length of the inorganic fiber in the structure for producing a casting is 1 mm or longer and 5 mm or shorter.