Abstract
This paper reports the molecular organization and mechanical properties of electrospun, post-drawn polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers. Without post-drawing, the polymer chain was kinked and oriented in hexagonal crystalline structures. Immediate post-drawing in the semi-solid state disrupted the crystal structures and chain kink at maximum draw ratio. Structural re-orientation at maximum draw resulted in a 500% increase in Young's modulus and a 100% increase in ultimate tensile strength. By applying post-drawing to electrospinning it may be possible to obtain PAN fibers and PAN-derived carbon fibers with enhanced mechanical properties compared to available fabrication technologies.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 764-772 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | MRS Communications |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 1 2019 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Materials Science(all)