Effect of dispersion time on the microstructural and mechanical properties of carbon nanotube solutions and their spun fibers

Abstract Solution spinning is the most promising approach of fabricating continuous carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers in industrial scale. Understanding the relationship between processing, structures and properties is of great significance for the optimization and application of solution spun CNT fibers. In this study, the influence of dispersion time on the microstructural and mechanical properties of CNT solutions and their spun fibers were systematically investigated. It has been found that with the increasing of dispersion time, CNT bundle size and length decreased, resulting in improved homogeneity of CNT dispersions, while the mechanical properties of CNT fibers increased firstly and then decreased. The orientation of CNTs along the fiber axis was found undesirable when CNTs were either too short or too long in the solution. This study provided a general guidance for fabricating high-performance fibers from one-dimensional nanomaterials .