Enhancement of the Mechanical Properties of PAN Nanofiber/Carbon Nanotube Composite Mats Produced via Needleless Electrospinning System

The current research presents the optimization of the parameters involved in the production of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers via the needleless electrospinning system. The experiments were designed using the Taguchi method to investigate the morphological, physical, and mechanical properties of the nanofibers. The single-wall carbon nanotubes (CNT) were used in order to improve the mechanical properties of the electrospun nanofibers. The diameter of the PAN nanofibers in the needleless system was less than 300 nm, which was smaller than that in the conventional system. The results showed that the concentration had the greatest impact on the fiber diameter than other parameters in both PAN and PAN/CNT nanofibers. The specific stress of the nanofibers produced by the needleless electrospinning system was lower than that created by the conventional electrospinning system. Addition of The CNT caused to improve the specific stress of the PAN/CNT nanofibers compared with the PAN nanofibers. However, excessive amounts of CNT had a negative effect on the elongation and modulus because of the aggregation of CNT inside the nanofibers. The X-ray diffraction analysis was used to study the crystalline behavior of the PAN nanofibers produced via the needleless electrospinning system. The results showed that the PAN nanofibers had amorphous structure compared with the conventional PAN nanofibers.