Preparation of Boron Nitride-Coated Carbon Fibers and Synergistic Improvement of Thermal Conductivity in Their Polypropylene-Matrix Composites

Arash Badakhsh; Woong Han; Sang-Chul Jung; Kay-Hyeok An; Byung-Joo Kim

doi:10.3390/polym11122009

Preparation of Boron Nitride-Coated Carbon Fibers and Synergistic Improvement of Thermal Conductivity in Their Polypropylene-Matrix Composites

Polymers (Basel). 2019 Dec 4;11(12):2009. doi: 10.3390/polym11122009.

Authors

Arash Badakhsh^{1

2}, Woong Han^{1

3}, Sang-Chul Jung⁴, Kay-Hyeok An⁵, Byung-Joo Kim¹

Affiliations

¹ Research Laboratory for Multifunctional Carbon Materials, Korea Institute of Carbon Convergence Technology, Jeonju 54853, Korea.
² Department of Mechanical Design Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 54896, Korea.
³ Department of Organic Materials and Fiber Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 54896, Korea.
⁴ Department of Environmental Engineering, Sunchon National University, Sunchon 57922, Korea.
⁵ Department of Carbon and Nano Materials Engineering, Jeonju University, Jeonju 55069, Korea.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to prepare boron nitride (BN)-coated carbon fibers (CF) and to investigate the properties of as-prepared fibers as well as the effect of coating on their respective polymer-matrix composites. A sequence of solution dipping and heat treatment was performed to blanket the CFs with a BN microlayer. The CFs were first dipped in a boric acid solution and then annealed in an ammonia-nitrogen mixed gas atmosphere for nitriding. The presence of BN on the CF surface was confirmed using FTIR, XPS, and SEM analyses. Polypropylene was reinforced with BN-CFs as the first filler and graphite flake as the secondary filler. The composite characterization indicates approximately 60% improvement in through-plane thermal conductivity and about 700% increase in the electrical resistivity of samples containing BN-CFs at 20 phr. An increase of two orders of magnitude in the electrical resistivity of BN-CF monofilaments was also observed.

Keywords: boron nitride; carbon fiber; coating; electrical resistivity; polymer–matrix composites; thermal properties.

Grants and funding

2015M3A7B4049716/National Research Foundation of Korea