Los Alamos National Security, LLC

Xiefei Zhang

Paul N Arendt

Yuntian Theodore Zhu

Igor Olegovich Usov

Lei Fu

Qingwen Li

Lianxi Zheng

A spun fiber of carbon nanotubes is exposed to ion irradiation. The irradiation exposure increases the specific strength of the spun fiber.

Increasing the specific strength of spun carbon nanotube fibers

A fiber of carbon nanotubes was prepared by a wet-spinning method involving drawing carbon nanotubes away from a substantially aligned, supported array of carbon nanotubes to form a ribbon, wetting the ribbon with a liquid, and spinning a fiber from the wetted ribbon. The liquid can be a polymer solution and after forming the fiber, the polymer can be cured. The resulting fiber has a higher tensile strength and higher conductivity compared to dry-spun fibers and to wet-spun fibers prepared by other methods.

Carbon nanotube fiber spun from wetted ribbon

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Chattanooga, TN, United States of America

Xiefei Zhang