This study shows that an all-thermoplastic (nano- or micro-fibre) polymer can be created using coaxial electrospinning to create fibre mats akin to pre-impregnated fabric, which can be formed into a composite without the addition of other materials. This has not yet been accomplished by using the coaxial electrospinning production process. Experimentation to investigate the maximum fibre volume ratio found that these composites were successfully formed at 0.73 fibre volume fraction, which is higher than the maximum found in traditionally formed composites (0.60 – 0.70). The formation of the composite from the fibre mats was investigated, and found that the composites formed at the lowest temperature and pressure (70 °C and 1 bar) exhibited the higher tensile strength, up to 84 % higher than at other temperatures and pressures. Higher pressure and temperature caused deformation in the reinforcing fibres, resulting in lower tensile strength. The composites were shown to have more consistent Young’s modulus and higher tensile strength compared to a composite made from the same materials, but with the fibres and matrix materials produced separately, and combined during the composite forming procedure. The finalised composite produced in this research exhibited an average Young’s Modulus of 2.5 GPa, ultimate tensile strength of 33.2 MPa, and elongation at break of 3.8 %.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:731324 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Wooldridge, Andrew |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/95272/ |
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