Polymeric fiber materials for thermal and mechanical protection and methods of making
AssigneePresident and Fellows of Harvard College
InventorsGrant Michael Gonzalez, John F. Zimmerman, Kevin Kit Parker
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Abstract
System, devices and methods for the fabrication of polymeric fibers, as well as resulting polymeric fibers, polymeric fiber materials and uses thereof are described. The polymeric fibers include poly(para-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA) fibers having an average fiber diameter in a range of 300 nm to 3 μm, and having an average Young's modulus in a range of 1 GPa to 100 GPa. Some materials including a plurality of the polymeric fibers have a thermal conductivity (k) in a range of 0.005 W/(m·K) to 10 W/(m·K) as measured perpendicular to a plane of the material.
Claims20
A method for fabricating one or more poly(para-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA) fibers, the method comprising:
- providing a solution comprising PPTA and sulfuric acid, or comprising PPTA, dimethylsulfoxide (DSMO), and potassium hydroxide (KOH);
- rotating a reservoir holding the solution about an axis of rotation to cause ejection of the solution in one or more jets from one or more orifices of the reservoir;
- and
- collecting the one or more jets of the solution in a precipitation bath having a temperature in a range of −1° C. to 5° C. in which the PPTA in the one or more jets precipitates to form one or more PPTA fibers having a diameter or an average diameter in a range of 400 nm to 2 μm.
The method of claim 43, wherein a weight % of PPTA in the solution is in a range of 0.5 wt % to 1.0 wt %.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.