Carbon fibers are widely used in high-strength and low-density composite materials. Among different precursors, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) is the predominant precursor for carbon fiber production. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), which have a near perfect crystal structure, possess high tensile strength (up to 7.5 GPa) and high tensile modulus (110-220 GPa). By comparison, the tensile strength and modulus of PAN precursor is about 1 GPa and 20 GPa, respectively. It is hypothesized that the incorporation of highly ordered, high strength and high modulus CNCs will contribute to further increase in PAN based carbon fiber strength and modulus. The purpose of this research, therefore, is to process PAN/CNC nanocomposite fibers and to convert them into carbon fiber. PAN/CNC nanocomposite fibers are gel spun using dimethyl formamide (DMF). Fibers have been stabilized in air and carbonized in inert environment. Structure, processing, and properties of the PAN/CNC precursor fibers, as well as their stabilized and carbonized products will be presented and discussed in this work.

Carbon fibers from polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs)

249th National Meeting (2015)

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