Potentials of polyacrylonitrile substitution by lignin for continuous manufactured lignin/polyacrylonitrile-blend-based carbon fibers

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Abstract

While carbon fibers (CFs) are still the most attractive reinforcement material for lightweight structures, they are mostly manufactured using crude oil-based process chains. To achieve a higher eco-efficiency, the partial substitution of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) by renewable materials, such as lignin, is investigated. So far, this investigation has only been carried out for batch manufacturing studies, neglecting the transfer and validation to continuous CF manufacturing. Therefore, this work is the first to investigate the possibility of partial substituting lignin for PAN in a continuous process. Lignin/PAN-blended CFs with up to 15 wt.-% lignin were able to attain mechanical properties comparable to unmodified PAN-based carbon fibers, achieving tensile strengths of up to 2466 MPa and a Young’s Modulus of 200 Pa. In summary, this study provides the basis for continuous Lignin/PAN-blended CF manufacturing.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number50
Number of pages13
JournalFibers
Volume12
Issue number6
Publication statusPublished - 18 Jun 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0003-4967-5773/work/162347879
ORCID /0000-0003-1370-064X/work/162347934

Keywords

Keywords

  • lignin, polyacrylonitrile, blend, carbon fibers, tensile properties, continuous processes