Fabricating strong and tough aramid fibers by small addition of carbon nanotubes

Jiajun Luo; Yeye Wen; Xiangzheng Jia; Xudong Lei; Zhenfei Gao; Muqiang Jian; Zhihua Xiao; Lanying Li; Jiangwei Zhang; Tao Li; Hongliang Dong; Xianqian Wu; Enlai Gao; Kun Jiao; Jin Zhang

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38701-4

Fabricating strong and tough aramid fibers by small addition of carbon nanotubes

Nat Commun. 2023 May 25;14(1):3019. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-38701-4.

Authors

Jiajun Luo^#^{1

2}, Yeye Wen^#^{1

2}, Xiangzheng Jia^#³, Xudong Lei^#^{4

5}, Zhenfei Gao², Muqiang Jian², Zhihua Xiao^{1

2}, Lanying Li⁶, Jiangwei Zhang⁷, Tao Li², Hongliang Dong⁸, Xianqian Wu^{9

10}, Enlai Gao¹¹, Kun Jiao^{12

13}, Jin Zhang^{14

15}

Affiliations

¹ Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, School of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Beijing Science and Engineering Center for Nanocarbons, Peking University, 100871, Beijing, China.
² Beijing Graphene Institute (BGI), 100095, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Engineering Mechanics, School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, 430072, Wuhan, China.
⁴ Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190, Beijing, China.
⁵ School of Engineering Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China.
⁶ China Bluestar Chengrand Chemical Co., Ltd, 611430, Chengdu, China.
⁷ Science Center of Energy Material and Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Inner Mongolia University, 010021, Hohhot, China.
⁸ Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research, 201203, Shanghai, China.
⁹ Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190, Beijing, China. wuxianqian@imech.ac.cn.
¹⁰ School of Engineering Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China. wuxianqian@imech.ac.cn.
¹¹ Department of Engineering Mechanics, School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, 430072, Wuhan, China. enlaigao@whu.edu.cn.
¹² Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, School of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Beijing Science and Engineering Center for Nanocarbons, Peking University, 100871, Beijing, China. jiaokun-cnc@pku.edu.cn.
¹³ Beijing Graphene Institute (BGI), 100095, Beijing, China. jiaokun-cnc@pku.edu.cn.
¹⁴ Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, School of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Beijing Science and Engineering Center for Nanocarbons, Peking University, 100871, Beijing, China. jinzhang@pku.edu.cn.
¹⁵ Beijing Graphene Institute (BGI), 100095, Beijing, China. jinzhang@pku.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

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.

Abstract

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