Dry-jet-wet spinning of multilayered fiber with forced assembly process

Abstract

Fabricating a multilayered polymer nanocomposite fiber includes injecting a first polymer solution and a second polymer solution to a head of spinneret to yield a two-layered fiber precursor in the spinneret, passing the two-layered fiber precursor through one or more multipliers in the spinneret to yield a multilayered fiber precursor having 2 n+1 layers, passing the multilayered fiber precursor through a gap between an exit of the spinneret and into a coagulation bath, and coagulating the multilayered fiber precursor in the coagulation bath to yield a multilayered polymer nanocomposite fiber. The multilayered polymer nanocomposite fiber includes alternating layers of a first polymer formed from the first polymer solution and a second polymer formed from the second polymer solution. The second polymer solution includes carbon nanostructures.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of fabricating a multilayered polymer nanocomposite fiber, the method comprising:
 injecting a first polymer solution and a second polymer solution to a head of a spinneret to yield a two-layered fiber precursor in the spinneret, wherein:
 the second polymer solution comprises carbon nanostructures, 
 a first layer of the two-layered fiber precursor comprises the first polymer solution, and 
 a second layer of the two-layered fiber precursor comprises the second polymer solution; 
   passing the two-layered fiber precursor through one or more multipliers in the spinneret to yield a multilayered fiber precursor having 2 n+1  layers, wherein:
 n is an integer that represents a number multipliers in the one or more multipliers, and 
 the multilayered fiber precursor comprises alternating layers of the first polymer solution and the second polymer solution; 
   passing the multilayered fiber precursor through a gap between an exit of the spinneret and into a coagulation bath; and   coagulating the multilayered fiber precursor in the coagulation bath to yield a multilayered polymer nanocomposite fiber, wherein the multilayered polymer nanocomposite fiber comprises alternating layers of a first polymer formed from the first polymer solution and a second polymer formed from the second polymer solution.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein passing the two-layered fiber precursor through a first one of the one or more multipliers comprises cutting the two-layered fiber precursor to yield a first two-layered fiber precursor and a second two-layered fiber precursor. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein passing the two-layered fiber precursor through the first one of the one or more multipliers further comprises stacking the first two-layered fiber precursor and the second two-layered fiber precursor to yield a four-layered fiber precursor. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising passing the four-layered fiber precursor through a second one of the one or more multipliers to yield an eight-layered fiber precursor. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the multilayered fiber precursor comprises up to 1024 layers. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first polymer solution and the second polymer solution comprise a semi-crystalline polymer. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the semi-crystalline polymer is polyacrylonitrile. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the carbon nanostructures comprise carbon nanotubes. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein passing the two-layered fiber precursor through one or more multipliers in the spinneret aligns the carbon nanotubes in the layers of the second polymer solution. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the carbon nanotubes are homogeneously distributed in the layers of the second polymer. 
     
     
         11 . A multilayered polymer nanocomposite fiber comprising:
 first layers comprising a first polymer; and   second layers comprising a second polymer and carbon nanotubes,   wherein the first layers and the second layers are alternating and arranged along a length of the fiber, and the carbon nanotubes are aligned in the second layers along the length of the fiber.   
     
     
         12 . The fiber of  claim 11 , wherein the first polymer and the second polymer are a semi-crystalline polymer. 
     
     
         13 . The fiber of  claim 12 , wherein the semi-crystalline polymer is polyacrylonitrile. 
     
     
         14 . The fiber of  claim 11 , wherein the carbon nanotubes are homogeneously distributed in the second layers. 
     
     
         15 . The fiber of  claim 11 , wherein a thickness of the first layers and a thickness of the second layers is in a range of 70 nm to 20 μm. 
     
     
         16 . The fiber of  claim 11 , wherein the fiber comprises 2 n+1  layers, where n is an integer. 
     
     
         17 . The fiber of  claim 11 , wherein a thickness of the fiber is in a range of 80 μm to 120 μm. 
     
     
         18 . The fiber of  claim 11 , wherein the carbon nanotubes comprise about 1 wt % of the fiber. 
     
     
         19 . The fiber of  claim 11 , wherein the carbon nanotubes in a first one of the second layers are aligned with the carbon nanotubes in a second one of the second layers. 
     
     
         20 . A fabric comprising the fiber of  claim 11 .