TY - JOUR
T1 - Fabricating strong and tough aramid fibers by small addition of carbon nanotubes
AU - Luo, Jiajun
AU - Wen, Yeye
AU - Jia, Xiangzheng
AU - Lei, Xudong
AU - Gao, Zhenfei
AU - Jian, Muqiang
AU - Xiao, Zhihua
AU - Li, Lanying
AU - Zhang, Jiangwei
AU - Li, Tao
AU - Dong, Hongliang
AU - Wu, Xianqian
AU - Gao, Enlai
AU - Jiao, Kun
AU - Zhang, Jin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Synthetic high-performance fibers present excellent mechanical properties and promising applications in the impact protection field. However, fabricating fibers with high strength and high toughness is challenging due to their intrinsic conflicts. Herein, we report a simultaneous improvement in strength, toughness, and modulus of heterocyclic aramid fibers by 26%, 66%, and 13%, respectively, via polymerizing a small amount (0.05 wt%) of short aminated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), achieving a tensile strength of 6.44 ± 0.11 GPa, a toughness of 184.0 ± 11.4 MJ m−3, and a Young’s modulus of 141.7 ± 4.0 GPa. Mechanism analyses reveal that short aminated SWNTs improve the crystallinity and orientation degree by affecting the structures of heterocyclic aramid chains around SWNTs, and in situ polymerization increases the interfacial interaction therein to promote stress transfer and suppress strain localization. These two effects account for the simultaneous improvement in strength and toughness.
AB - Synthetic high-performance fibers present excellent mechanical properties and promising applications in the impact protection field. However, fabricating fibers with high strength and high toughness is challenging due to their intrinsic conflicts. Herein, we report a simultaneous improvement in strength, toughness, and modulus of heterocyclic aramid fibers by 26%, 66%, and 13%, respectively, via polymerizing a small amount (0.05 wt%) of short aminated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), achieving a tensile strength of 6.44 ± 0.11 GPa, a toughness of 184.0 ± 11.4 MJ m−3, and a Young’s modulus of 141.7 ± 4.0 GPa. Mechanism analyses reveal that short aminated SWNTs improve the crystallinity and orientation degree by affecting the structures of heterocyclic aramid chains around SWNTs, and in situ polymerization increases the interfacial interaction therein to promote stress transfer and suppress strain localization. These two effects account for the simultaneous improvement in strength and toughness.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85160221748&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-023-38701-4
DO - 10.1038/s41467-023-38701-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 37230970
AN - SCOPUS:85160221748
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 14
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 3019
ER -