Development of Carbon Nanofiber Yarns by Electrospinning

In recent years the commercial importance of carbon nanofiber has increased due to its high mechanical properties, electrical and thermal conductivity and lightness. Therefore, carbon nanofibers are candidate to replace many commercial products. In general carbon nanofibers are produced from precursor fiber. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) is usually used as precursor fiber because of comparatively high carbon yield and a thermally stable and highly oriented molecular structure. Large number of scientific publications have been demonstrated with the help of progress in nanofiber production methods, such electrospinning, centrifugal- spinning, air blowing from melt or solution, and optimization of process parameters of those methods. In this study, PAN nanoyarn is first obtained by the electrospnning method which is very convenient process for producing thin fiber. Stabilization is then applied by exposure to air at 230°C to provide thermally stable structure so that the resulting PAN nanofibers could be thermally durable during the carbonization process at high temperature. Finally, the process for the carbonization of the stabilized sample is operated in a argon gas atmosphere at 600°C. The produced material is characterized by SEM to observe its morphology.