Stabilization and carbonization of gel spun polyacrylonitrile/single wall carbon nanotube composite fibers

• Published in: Polymer (Guilford) Vol. 48; no. 13; pp. 3781 - 3789
• Main Authors: Chae, Han Gi, Minus, Marilyn L., Rasheed, Asif, Kumar, Satish
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 15.06.2007; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Carbon fiber; Carbon nanotube; Composites; Exact sciences and technology; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; Polyacrylonitrile; Polymer industry, paints, wood; Technology of polymers; Carbon nanotube; Polyacrylonitrile; Carbon fiber; Synthetic fiber; Mechanical properties; Carbon nanotubes; Tensile property; Experimental study; Property processing relationship; Carbonization; Structure processing relationship; Tensile stress; Singlewalled nanotube; Pyrocarbon; Oriented polymer; Acrylonitrile polymer; Morphology; Supramolecular structure; Nanocomposite
• ISSN: 0032-3861; 1873-2291
• DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2007.04.072

Gel spun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and PAN/single wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) composite fibers have been stabilized in air and subsequently carbonized in argon at 1100 °C. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and infrared spectroscopy suggests that the presence of single wall carbon nanotube affects PAN stabilization. Carbonized PAN/SWNT fibers exhibited 10–30 nm diameter fibrils embedded in brittle carbon matrix, while the control PAN carbonized under the same conditions exhibited brittle fracture with no fibrils. High resolution transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy suggest the existence of well developed graphitic regions in carbonized PAN/SWNT and mostly disordered carbon in carbonized PAN. Tensile modulus and strength of the carbonized fibers were as high as 250 N/tex and 1.8 N/tex for the composite fibers and 168 N/tex and 1.1 N/tex for the control PAN based carbon fibers, respectively. The addition of 1 wt% carbon nanotubes enhanced the carbon fiber modulus by 49% and strength by 64%.