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Title: Influence of humidity, temperature, and annealing on microstructure and tensile properties of electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibers

Abstract

This study investigates the microstructure and mechanical properties of electrospun nanofibers from polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-dimethylformamide (DMF) solution at different relative humidity (RH) in the range from 14% to 60% and two different temperatures (20 °C and 40 °C). Nanofibers produced at low RH (22% or less at 20 °C) exhibit relatively smooth surface and solid core, whereas at higher RH (30% or higher at 20 °C) rough surface and porous core are observed. The resulting morphology is explained by means of H2O/DMF/PAN ternary phase diagram. At higher RH, the water diffusion into polymer-solution jet brings thermodynamic instability into the system leading to separation of polymer-rich phase and polymer-lean phase, where the later contributes to porosity. Higher process temperature (40 °C) yields larger miscibility area in the ternary phase diagram leading to formation of porous structure at relatively higher RH (40%). Tensile strength of nanofibrous yarns is found to vary from 80 MPa to 130 MPa depending on the processing temperature and RH. The amount of porosity is found to affect the tensile properties of nanofibers most significantly, although diameter and crystallinity play important role. Annealing is found to alleviate surface roughness and porosity and increase crystallinity. Furthermore, tensile strength of nanofibrousmore » yarns is found to improve by up to 25% after annealing.« less

Authors:
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2]
  1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)
  2. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1489820
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-06CH11357
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Polymer Engineering and Science
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 58; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 0032-3888
Publisher:
Wiley
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; electrospinning; mechanical properties; nanofibers; ternary phase behavior

Citation Formats

Barua, Bipul, and Saha, Mrinal C. Influence of humidity, temperature, and annealing on microstructure and tensile properties of electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibers. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1002/pen.24657.
Barua, Bipul, & Saha, Mrinal C. Influence of humidity, temperature, and annealing on microstructure and tensile properties of electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibers. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/pen.24657
Barua, Bipul, and Saha, Mrinal C. Wed . "Influence of humidity, temperature, and annealing on microstructure and tensile properties of electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibers". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/pen.24657. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1489820.
@article{osti_1489820,
title = {Influence of humidity, temperature, and annealing on microstructure and tensile properties of electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibers},
author = {Barua, Bipul and Saha, Mrinal C.},
abstractNote = {This study investigates the microstructure and mechanical properties of electrospun nanofibers from polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-dimethylformamide (DMF) solution at different relative humidity (RH) in the range from 14% to 60% and two different temperatures (20 °C and 40 °C). Nanofibers produced at low RH (22% or less at 20 °C) exhibit relatively smooth surface and solid core, whereas at higher RH (30% or higher at 20 °C) rough surface and porous core are observed. The resulting morphology is explained by means of H2O/DMF/PAN ternary phase diagram. At higher RH, the water diffusion into polymer-solution jet brings thermodynamic instability into the system leading to separation of polymer-rich phase and polymer-lean phase, where the later contributes to porosity. Higher process temperature (40 °C) yields larger miscibility area in the ternary phase diagram leading to formation of porous structure at relatively higher RH (40%). Tensile strength of nanofibrous yarns is found to vary from 80 MPa to 130 MPa depending on the processing temperature and RH. The amount of porosity is found to affect the tensile properties of nanofibers most significantly, although diameter and crystallinity play important role. Annealing is found to alleviate surface roughness and porosity and increase crystallinity. Furthermore, tensile strength of nanofibrous yarns is found to improve by up to 25% after annealing.},
doi = {10.1002/pen.24657},
journal = {Polymer Engineering and Science},
number = 6,
volume = 58,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jun 28 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Wed Jun 28 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

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Free Publicly Available Full Text
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Cited by: 20 works
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Figures / Tables:

Table 1 Table 1: Interaction parameters for ternary phase diagram of water/DMF/PAN system

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