The extraordinary reinforcing efficiency of single-walled carbon nanotubes in oriented poly(vinyl alcohol) tapes

Abstract

This paper reports on oriented poly(vinyl alcohol)/single-walled carbon nanotube (PVA/SWNT) tapes that were prepared by a mild processing route, involving the use of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as a solvent. Composite films with homogeneously dispersed SWNTs were cast from solution and drawn into oriented tapes using solid-state drawing. The obtained tapes showed the extraordinary reinforcing effects of the SWNTs, as the addition of 1.0 wt% SWNTs tripled the tensile strength of the PVA tapes. Micromechanical analysis showed that the nanotube contribution to the composite strength was as high as 88 GPa, which is very high when compared to other data reported in the literature, and for the first time begins to exploit the theoretical strength of nanotubes.

Fabrication of high strength PVA/SWCNT composite fibers by gel spinning

“…Since the real tensile strength of SWCNTs was not known, the strength was roughly estimated from the equation [25]; From Figure 12, the value of η o (f SWCNTs ) was determined as 0.96.…”

Mechanical properties of individual electrospun polymer-nanotube composite nanofibers

“…In addition, to calculate the modulus we resort to assuming purely brittle failure, a significant simplification. We can test the validity of these assumptions fairly simply by noting that, for a range of reported PVA-nanotube composites (7,18,30), the strength scales linearly with the modulus ( B =0.04E) as shown in Figure 4. For comparison, we plot the calculated strength versus the calculated modulus for our fibers in Figure 4.…”

The production of advanced fine-grained alumina by carbon nanotube addition

“…They were synthesized by the catalytic CVD method and have an entangled cotton-like form. The CNTs have an average outer diameter of 9.5 nm (10 graphitic shells), lengths of up to 1.5 microns, purity of ~90% and density of 1.66 g/cm 3 . An acid treatment was performed using a mixture of nitric (HNO 3 , 90%) and sulfuric (H 2 SO 4 , 90%) acids.…”

“…The alumina powder used in this study is commercially available as "AKP 53 aluminum oxide" micro-powder from Sumitomo, Japan. As supplied, the main features of this product are: alpha phase; purity: 99.99%; BET surface area 11.7 m 2 /g; melting point 2050 o C; and density 3.97 g/cm 3 . Particle size analysis of alumina was performed using Malvern nanozeta sizer.…”

“…Since Iijima's report [1], CNTs have been widely appreciated for producing advanced polymer [2,3], ceramic [4,5] and metal [6] composites. In the case of ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) [7], CNTs have been reported to improve the electrical conductivity [4,5], thermal conductivity [8], fracture strength [5] machinability [9], indentation fracture toughness [10], and contact damage resistance [11].…”