|
|||||
|
|
The effect of carbon nanotube aspect ratio and loading on the elastic modulus of electrospun poly(vinyl alcohol)-carbon nanotube hybrid fibers |
|
| Authors: | Kenneth Kar Ho Wong Jeffery L Hutter John HT Luong |
| Affiliation: | a Department of Medical Biophysics, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5C1 b Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 3K7 c Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B9 d Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Council Canada, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H4P 2R2 |
| Abstract: | The reinforcement effect of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has been examined as a function of their loading and aspect ratio in poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) based hybird fibers. Lignosulfonic acid sodium salt (LSA) was used to disperse CNTs to produce consistently high CNT loaded PVA-LSA-CNT hybrid fibers using an electrospinning process. The elastic modulus of individual fibers was measured using atomic force microscopy. The presence of CNTs significantly increased the average elastic modulus of PVA-LSA-CNT fibers compared to PVA-LSA fibers. The elastic modulus, however, exhibited no fiber diameter dependency. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to determine the loading and the aspect ratio of CNTs in each hybrid fiber. The CNT loading in PVA-LSA-CNT fibers varied widely due to non-uniform CNT dispersion and displayed no relationship with the elastic modulus. Our results also demonstrated that the average value of CNT aspect ratio significantly affected the elastic modulus of the hybrid fibers. Such a result was in agreement with theoretical prediction in which the stress transfer efficiency in a composite matrix is strongly dependent on the CNT aspect ratio. |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ | |