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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Polymer Chemistry

Theses/Dissertations

2016

Carbon nanotubes

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Incorporating Carbon Nanotubes Into Carbon Fiber Via Surface Modification, Robert Benjamin Ripy May 2016

Incorporating Carbon Nanotubes Into Carbon Fiber Via Surface Modification, Robert Benjamin Ripy

Masters Theses

Ever more advanced materials need to be designed to further the exploration of avenues of science and engineering. Metals and traditional composites are not meeting the needs of today’s stringent demands for lightweight and strong materials. There is a need for advanced materials that are lighter and stronger to replace conventional materials; carbon fiber composites became the obvious choice because of their outstanding mechanical properties. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based carbon fiber has reached its apex in terms of its strength to weight ratio. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) offer a lightweight and potentially stronger alternative to PAN based fibers. However, it is difficult …


Toward High Performance Nanocarbon Fibers, Michaela R. Pfau Mar 2016

Toward High Performance Nanocarbon Fibers, Michaela R. Pfau

Master's Theses

High performance carbon fibers (CFs) have been a commercially available since their commercial boom in the 1970s, and are generally produced via carbonization of poly (acrylonitrile) (PAN). More recently, carbon nanomaterials like graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been discovered and have shown excellent mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties due to their sp2 carbon repeating structure. Graphene and CNTs can both be organized into macroscopic fibers using a number of different techniques, resulting in fibers with promising mechanical performance that can be readily multifunctionalized. In some cases, the two materials have been combined, and the resulting hybrid fibers have …