Enhanced stabilization of cellulose-lignin hybrid filaments for carbon fiber production

Nolene Byrne,Herbert Sixta,Yibo Ma,Rasike De Silva,Michael Hummel

doi:10.1007/s10570-017-1579-0

Abstract

Herein we investigate the stabilization behavior of a cellulose-lignin composite fibre towards application as a new bio derived precursor for carbon fibres. Carbon fibre materials are in high demand as we move towards a lower emission high-efficiency society. However, the most prominent current carbon fibre precursor is an expensive fossil-based polymer. Over the past decade significant research has focused on using renewable and bio derived alternatives. By blending cellulose and lignin and spinning a fibre with a continuous bi-component matrix a new approach to overcome the current limitations of both these precursors is proposed. A thorough study is conducted here on understanding the stabilization of the new precursors which is a critical step in the carbon fibre process. We show that stabilization times of the composite fibre are significantly reduced in comparison to pure lignin and improvements in mass yield compared to pure cellulose fibres are observed.

Highlights

Carbon fibre (CF) composites are increasingly important for applications which require lightweight solutions (Frank et al 2014)
Knowledge of the thermal decomposition profile of a CF precursor is critical for determining suitable stabilization parameters
Stabilization needs to be performed below the thermal decomposition temperature, Td

Summary

Introduction

Carbon fibre (CF) composites are increasingly important for applications which require lightweight solutions (Frank et al 2014). For further conversion into carbon fibres, non-derivatizing routes, i.e. direct dissolution of cellulose and coagulation in an antisolvent spin bath is preferred as it produces filaments of high mechanical properties and round cross section. Stabilization of the cellulose-lignin fibres was studied at 3 different temperatures and the fibres were characterized thoroughly in terms of thermal degradation using FTIR to determine the stabilization kinetics, evolved gases, single fibre measurements and scanning electron microscope.

Results

Conclusion