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AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorLawrence E. Carlson
Estimating the term…
Carbon nanotube (CNT) yarns and sheets having enhanced mechanical strength using infused and bonded nano-resins. A CNT yarn or sheet is surface-activated to produce open bonds in the CNT walls prior to resin infusion. The CNT yarn or sheet is infused with a low viscosity nano-resin that penetrates spaces between individual CNTs and is cured to cross-link and chemically bond to the CNT walls, either directly or through a functional molecule, to bond the individual CNTs or ropes to each other. The nano-resin can comprise dicyclopentadiene having an uncured viscosity near that of water. The cross-linking process involves ring-opening metathesis polymerization and catalysis of the nano-resin in combination with a functionalizing material such as norbornene, to enhance bonding between the carbon and nano-resin. The process increases load capability, tensile strength, and elastic modulus of the yarns and sheets, for use as a structural component in composite materials.
A method for making an improved strength CNT yarn, comprising utilizing as a starting material an unspun CNT yarn comprising continuous strands of CNT fibers held together and capable of being drawn under tension through a continuous strength-enhancing process, comprising:
The method for making an improved strength CNT yarn, comprising:
An improved CNT yarn which has been plasma-activated to produce open bonds in the CNT walls contained in the yarn and which has been infused with a nano-resin that penetrates the open spaces between the individual CNTs of the yarn and cross-links and chemically bonds to the CNT walls, in combination with functionalizing with a norbornene-containing material or other functionalizing molecule, to physically bond the individual CNT yarns to each other, in which the nano-resin infused in the CNT yarn material comprises a DCPD material, a CPD/DCPD material, or other similar nano-resin material having an uncured viscosity (at room temperature) near that of water, and in which the enhanced strength yarn is characterized by one of (a)-(c):
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.