Carbonized organic precursors such as wood, shells and some plant seeds are very porous. They are nanostructured and tend to be hard, but have pure mechanical properties as a result of their porosities. An attempt was made to carbonize an organic precursor to produce a bulk material with much less porosity for possible use in structural applications such as reinforcement in metal and polymer matrices. A bulk nanocarbon (BNC) material was synthesized using high energy ball milling and the carbonization of corn cob. Corn cob was mechanically milled for up to 20 hours by applying high energy ball milling to produce the milled powder. The milled powder was cold-compacted and carbonized at up to 1500°C to fabricate the BNC material. The material revealed both micro and nano-porosities; the porosities decreased with carbonizing temperature and hold time. Micropores were mostly closed for samples carbonized above 1300oC, whereas they formed interconnected network at lower carbonization temperatures. BNC has a young's modulus of 120 GPa, about ten times that of extruded graphite. / Master of Science / Wood, shells, and plant seeds are examples of organic precursors. When organic precursors are carbonized, they can become very porous, nanostructured, and hard, but deliver pure mechanical properties because of their porosities. A selected organic precursor was carbonized, in an attempt, to produce a bulk material with much less porosity for possible use in structural applications such as reinforcement in metal and polymer matrices. A bulk nanocarbon (BNC) material was made using high energy ball milling and the carbonization of corn cob (the selected organic precursor). This bulk material revealed both micro and nano-porosities, and a young's modulus of 120 GPa, about ten times that of extruded graphite.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/99289 |
| Date | 07 July 2020 |
| Creators | Tamakloe, Senam |
| Contributors | Materials Science and Engineering, Aning, Alexander O., Suchicital, Carlos T. A., Reynolds, William T. Jr. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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