Molding material and manufacturing method therefor

1. A method for manufacturing a molding material comprising anionically modified microfibrillated plant fibers and a thermosetting resin, comprising the steps of:

(1) reacting plant fibers with a carboxylic acid represented by formula (I):

X—(CH2)n—COOH  (I)

wherein X represents halogen and n is 1 or 2, and/or with a salt thereof, in the presence of a base, to anionically modify the plant fibers,

(2) defibrating the anionically modified plant fibers obtained in step (1) in the presence of water, and

(3) mixing the anionically modified microfibrillated plant fibers obtained in step (2) with a thermosetting resin,

wherein the anionically modified cellulose-fiber-containing material is not dried between steps (1) and (2), and

wherein the microfibrillated plant fibers comprise 60% or more of a cellulose I crystal structure, and

wherein the thermosetting resin is an unsaturated polyester resin, and

a degree of substitution by the carboxylic acid represented by formula (I) and/or by the salt thereof, is not less than 0.01 to less than 0.3 per anhydrous glucose unit in the anionically modified microfibrillated plant fibers

the molding material comprises the anionically modified microfibrillated plant fibers in an amount of 10 to 900 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the thermosetting resin, and

in step (2), the anionically modified plant fiber is defibrated by using a single- or multi-screw kneader where the lower limit of the screw circumferential speed of the single- or multi-screw kneader is 45 m/min.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein step (3) is a step in which the anionically modified microfibrillated plant fibers obtained in step (2) are formed into a sheet, and the sheet formed is impregnated with a thermosetting resin.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the anionically modified microfibrillated plant fibers are obtained by reacting a part of hydroxyl groups of anhydrous glucose units with a carboxylic acid represented by formula (I):

X—(CH 2 ) n —COOH  (I)

wherein X represents halogen and n is 1 or 2, in the presence of a base, to convert the hydroxyl groups into a group represented by formula (II):

—O—(CH 2 ) n —COOR  (II)

wherein R represents an alkali metal.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the anionically modified microfibrillated plant fibers are microfibrillated plant fibers having a carboxyalkyl group.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the carboxyalkyl group is a carboxymethyl group.

6. A method for manufacturing a molding product, comprising the step of curing a molding material manufactured by the method of claim 1 .