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Carbonization of oriented polyacrylonitrile and multiwalled carbon nanotube composite films
Author(s) -
Koganemaru Ai,
Bin Yuezhen,
Tohora Hidekazu,
Okino Fujio,
Komiyama Shingo,
Zhu John,
Matsuo Masaru
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
asia‐pacific journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.348
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1932-2143
pISSN - 1932-2135
DOI - 10.1002/apj.167
Subject(s) - polyacrylonitrile , materials science , carbonization , carbon nanotube , composite number , raman spectroscopy , crystallization , nucleation , composite material , scanning electron microscope , chemical engineering , elongation , polymer , ultimate tensile strength , organic chemistry , chemistry , physics , optics , engineering
Abstract Composite films of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were fabricated by gelation/crystallization from solution. The composite films were elongated twofold and heat‐treated at 2800 °C to produce oriented carbon films. The orientation and morphology of the resultant carbon films were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction and Raman spectrometers. The results indicate that the degree of graphitization of PAN was enhanced by the addition of MWNTs, at the same time, the elongation induced the orientation of MWNTs along elongation direction and the co‐orientation of MWNTs and the molecular chains of the matrix PAN greatly promoted the carbonization of composite precursor. It is suggested that carbon nanotubes acted as nucleation side of graphitic crystal during the carbonization of PAN‐MWNTs composites. Copyright © 2008 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.