Abstract
Tensile strength, Young’s modulus, and toughness of electrospun nylon 6 non-woven fiber mats were improved by increasing individual nanofiber strength and fiber–fiber load sharing. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were used as reinforcement to increase the strength of the electrospun nylon 6 nanofibers. Young’s modulus, tensile strength, and toughness of the nylon 6 non-woven fiber mats electrospun from 20 wt % solutions increased 51%, 87%, and 136%, respectively, after incorporating 1 wt % CNTs into the nylon 6 nanofibers. Three methods were investigated to enhance fiber–fiber load sharing: increasing friction between fibers, thermal bonding, and solvent bonding. The addition of beaded nylon 6 nanofibers into the non-woven fiber mats to increase fiber-fiber friction resulted in a statistically significantly increase in Young’s modulus over comparable smooth non-woven fiber mats. After annealing, tensile strength, elongation, and toughness of the nylon 6 non-woven fiber mats electrospun from 20 wt % + 10 wt % solutions increased 26%, 28%, and 68% compared to those from 20 wt % solutions. Solvent bonding with formic acid vapor at room temperature for 30 min caused increases of 56%, 67%, and 39% in the Young’s modulus, tensile strength, and toughness of non-woven fiber mats, respectively. The increases attributed to increased individual nanofiber strength and solvent bonding synergistically resulted in the improvement of Young’s modulus of the electrospun nylon 6 non-woven fiber mats.
Highlights
Electrospinning can produce polymer fibers with diameters in the range of nanometers to a few micrometers
After annealing, annealing, tensile strength, elongation, and toughness of the nylon 6 non-woven fiber mats electrospun from 20 wt % and 10 wt % solutions increased 26%, 28%, and 68% compared with those from 20 wt %
We have proved that Young’s modulus, tensile strength, and toughness of the nylon 6 non-woven fiber mats increased 51%, 87%, and 136%, respectively, after incorporating 1 wt % carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into the nylon 6 nanofibers
Summary
Electrospinning can produce polymer fibers with diameters in the range of nanometers to a few micrometers. Materials 2016, 9, 270 in modulus and strength of individual electrospun polymer nanofibers with a reduction in their fiber diameter. They reported that reduction of fiber diameter resulted in simultaneous increases in elastic modulus, true strength, and toughness. In addition to the strength of individual fibers, the number of crossings per nanofiber, intersections per unit area, total nanofiber crossings in the mat, and three-dimensional joint morphology all play an important role in the mechanical properties of non-woven nanofiber mats [19]. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were incorporated into the nylon 6 nanofibers during electrospinning to increase the individual fiber strength. The as-spun nylon 6 non-woven fiber mats were exposed over formic acid vapor at room temperature to increase fiber–fiber bonding
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