Sánchez Salvador, José LuisMonte Lara, M. ConcepciónNegro Álvarez, Carlos ManuelBatchelor, WarrenGarnier, GilBlanco Suárez, Ángeles2023-06-172023-06-172021-06-170969-023910.1007/s10570-021-04003-5https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/7215Nanocellulose is an emerging material that needs to be well characterized to control its performance during industrial applications. Gel point (Øg) is a convenient parameter commonly used to estimate the aspect ratio (AR) of cellulose nano/microfibers (CNFs/CMFs), providing critical information on the nanofiber network. However, its estimation requires many sedimentation experiments, tedious and time consuming. In this study, a simpler and faster technique is presented to estimate Øg, based on one or two sedimentation experiments, reducing the experiments by a factor of at least 2.5. Here, this new methodology is successfully validated by using the Øg of different CNF/CMF hydrogels calculated with the traditional methodology, showing an error lower than 7%. The error in the estimation of the AR is lower than 3% in all cases. Furthermore, the two mathematical models currently used to estimate Øg, the smoothing spline and the quadratic fit, are compared and the mathematical assumptions improved.engAtribución 3.0 Españajournal articlehttps://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-021-04003-5open access66.0Aspect ratioCellulose nanofibersCharacterizationCSAPS smoothing splineGel pointSedimentationIndustria del papelIngeniería química3312.13 Tecnología de la Madera3303 Ingeniería y Tecnología Químicas