Nanotailored Carbon Fibers & Forms

Carbon fibers are widely used in a variety of applications including aerospace, military and automotive. These applications are limited by the trade-offs that must be made between structural and conductive properties. A new area of interest is the nanotailoring of fibers with carbon nanotubes (CNT) to produce a high strength, high modulus light-weight carbon fiber that is thermally and/or electrically conductive. The significant difficulty in accomplishing this is the ability to fully and uniformly disperse CNTs into the precursor polymer. This issue has caused some previous efforts in this area to be unsuccessful with inconclusive results. To accomplish this task we have used ultra-short single-walled carbon nanotubes (US-SWNTs), to achieve a high level of dispersion in a carbon fiber polymer precursor. BENEFIT: The fiber technology proposed herein will have applications in DoD, NASA, and commercial industry including aerospace and infrastructure. The improved fiber performance, including mechanical and electrical properties, will provide opportunities for decreasing weight and decreased life cycle costs for the end user.