High stiffness nano-composite fibres from polyvinylalcohol filled with graphene and boron nitride

Conor S. Boland, Sebastian Barwich, Umar Khan, Jonathan N. Coleman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Here we describe using nanosheets of both graphene and boron nitride, produced by liquid phase exfoliation, as fillers in composite fibres. The fibres were prepared by coagulation spinning using polyvinylalcohol as a matrix. We obtained good quality fibres with diameter and nanosheet volume fraction which could be controlled via the ratio of nanosheet to polymer injection rates. The mechanical stiffness (modulus, Y) and strength, σB, increased relatively slowly with volume fraction (dY/dVf ≤ 160 GPa and dσB/dVf ≤ 0.8 GPa). However, both stiffness and strength continued increasing with nanosheet content to loading levels of ∼20vol%, after which the properties fell off. Such relatively high loading levels result in impressive mechanical properties with stiffness and strength of up to 30 GPa and 260 MPa observed. In addition, we found the graphene-filled fibres to be electrically conducting with conductivities of up to 3 S/m.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)280-288
Number of pages9
JournalCarbon
Volume99
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2016
Externally publishedYes

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