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

Barua, Bipul; Saha, Mrinal C.

doi:10.1002/pen.24657

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

Journal Article · 28 June 2017 · Polymer Engineering and Science

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/pen.24657 · OSTI ID:1489820

Barua, Bipul ^[1];

^[2]

Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)
Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)

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.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1489820

Journal Information:: Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol. 58, Issue 6; ISSN 0032-3888

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 25 works

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