Electrospinning technology facilitates the fabrication of continuous nanofibers from polymer solutions or melts under applied high electric fields to produce a randomly oriented nanofiber mat. Polymer-Derived Ceramics (PDCs) are exceptional materials due to high thermal stability, chemical resistance, and low density. Essential industrial objectives involve the development of novel materials, with precise shape and micro-to-nanostructure size. Conductive PDC nanofibers were fabricated via electrospinning of polyacrylonitrile/cyclosilazane solutions with various component ratios. Subsequently, the fibers were pyrolyzed for the conversion into carbon/ceramic fibers. These nanofibrous mats are thermally and mechanically stable, electrically conductive, flexible, and have high surface area. SEM analysis showed that the fiber size ranged from 100 nm to 300 nm, depending on the solution concentration. The fibers’ size is much smaller than many PDCs fibers previously reported in the literature. Moreover, the oxidation resistance and light weight of the ceramic nanofibers were also studied. Further characterization of surface morphology, fiber crystallinity, and thermal stability of these fibers were also performed.

Development of conductive and fire-retardant polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) composite nanofibers

2019 Spring National Meeting

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