Impregnated continuous graphitic fiber tows and composites containing same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9362018-B2
Application number	US-201313987528-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 5, 2013
Priority date	Aug 5, 2013
Publication date	Jun 7, 2016
Grant date	Jun 7, 2016

Abstract

An impregnated fiber tow comprising multiple unitary graphene-based continuous graphitic fibers impregnated with a matrix material, wherein at least one of the continuous graphitic fibers comprises at least 90% by weight of graphene planes that are chemically bonded with one another having an inter-planar spacing d 002 from 0.3354 nm to 0.4 nm as determined by X-ray diffraction and an oxygen content less than 5% by weight, wherein the graphene planes are parallel to one another and parallel to a fiber axis direction and the graphitic fiber contains no core-shell structure, has no helically arranged graphene domains or domain boundary, and has a porosity level less than 5% by volume.

First claim

We claim:

1. An impregnated fiber tow comprising one or multiple continuous unitary graphene fibers and a matrix material, wherein at least one of said continuous graphene fibers consists of at least 90% by weight of graphene planes that are chemically bonded with one another having an inter-planar spacing d 002 from 0.3354 nm to 0.4 nm as determined by X-ray diffraction, an oxygen content less than 5% by weight, and said continuous graphene fiber is a unitary or monolith neat graphene structure containing no binder, no adhesive, no matrix material, no graphite flakes, and no graphene platelets therein, wherein said graphene planes are parallel to one another and parallel to a fiber axis direction and said graphene fiber contains no core-shell structure, has no helically arranged graphene domains, and has a porosity level less than 5% by volume.

2. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said inter-planar spacing d 002 is from 0.3354 nm to 0.36 nm, the oxygen content is less than 2% by weight, and/or the porosity level is less than 2% by volume.

3. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein the tow or the continuous graphene fiber has a cross-section that is rectangular or flat-shaped, having a width and a thickness.

4. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 3 , wherein the tow or the continuous graphene fiber has a width-to-thickness ratio greater than 5.

5. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein the tow has a thickness less than 1 μm.

6. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein the tow has a thickness less than 100 nm.

7. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein the continuous graphene fibers occupy a volume fraction greater than 60% in said impregnated tow.

8. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein the continuous graphene fibers occupy a volume fraction greater than 70% in said impregnated tow.

9. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein the continuous graphene fibers occupy a volume fraction greater than 80% in said impregnated tow.

10. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said matrix material is selected from a polymer, metal, glass, ceramic, non-polymeric organic, carbon, pitch, or a combination thereof.

11. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said matrix material is selected from a thermoplastic, thermoset resin, interpenetrating network, semi-interpenetrating network, rubber or elastomer, or a combination thereof.

12. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber has an oxygen content less than 1%, an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.345 nm, a thermal conductivity of at least 1,000 W/mK, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 3,000 S/cm.

13. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber has an oxygen content less than 0.01%, an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.337 nm, a thermal conductivity of at least 1,200 W/mK, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 5,000 S/cm.

14. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber has an oxygen content no greater than 0.001%, an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.336 nm, a mosaic spread value no greater than 0.7, a thermal conductivity of at least 1,500 W/mK, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 8,000 S/cm.

15. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber has an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.336 nm, a mosaic spread value no greater than 0.4, a thermal conductivity greater than 1,700 W/mK, and/or an electrical conductivity greater than 12,000 S/cm.

16. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber has an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.337 nm and a mosaic spread value less than 1.0.

17. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber has a degree of graphitization no less than 40% and/or a mosaic spread value less than 0.7.

18. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber has a degree of graphitization no less than 80% and/or a mosaic spread value no greater than 0.4.

19. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber contains chemically bonded graphene molecules or chemically merged graphene planes that are parallel to one another.

20. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber contains a first graphene domain containing bonded graphene planes parallel to one another and having a first crystallographic c-axis, and a second graphene domain containing bonded graphene planes parallel to one another and having a second crystallographic c-axis wherein the first crystallographic c-axis and the second crystallographic c-axis are inclined with respect to each other at an angle less than 10 degrees.

21. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber contains a poly-crystal graphite structure with graphene molecules being oriented along a fiber axis direction.

22. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber has a poly-crystal graphitic structure having a grain size larger than 10 μm.

23. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber has a poly-crystal graphitic structure having a grain size larger than 100 μm.

24. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber has a poly-crystal graphitic structure having a grain size larger than 1 mm.

25. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber has an electrical conductivity greater than 3,000 S/cm, a thermal conductivity greater than 600 W/mK, a physical density greater than 1.7 g/cm 3 , a Young's modulus greater than 60 GPa, and/or a tensile strength greater than 1.2 GPa.

26. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber has an electrical conductivity greater than 5,000 S/cm, a thermal conductivity greater than 1,000 W/mK, a physical density greater than 1.8 g/cm 3 , a Young's modulus greater than 200 GPa, and/or a tensile strength greater than 3.2 GPa.

27. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber has an electrical conductivity greater than 15,000 S/cm, a thermal conductivity greater than 1,500 W/mK, a physical density greater than 1.9 g/cm 3 , a Young's modulus greater than 300 GPa, and/or a tensile strength greater than 5.0 GPa.

28. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said continuous graphene fiber has an electrical conductivity greater than 18,000 S/cm, a thermal conductivity greater than 1,700 W/mK, a physical density greater than 1.9 g/cm 3 , a Young's modulus greater than 600 GPa, and/or a tensile strength greater than 8.0 GPa.

29. The impregnated fiber tow of claim 1 , wherein said tow comprises at least one fiber selected from the group consisting of wool, cotton, asbestos, nylon, synthetic, carbon nanotubes, and graphene-based graphitic fiber obtained from coagulation-spinning.

30. An impregnated fiber tow consisting of one or multiple continuous unitary graphene fibers and a matrix material, wherein at least one of said continuous graphene fibers is a unitary or monolith neat graphene structure containing no binder, no adhesive, no matrix material, and no discrete graphene sheets., and contains no core-shell structure, has no helically

Assignees

• Zhamu Aruna
• Jang Bor Z
• Nanotek Instruments Inc

Inventors

• Zhamu Aruna
• Jang Bor Z

Classifications

• Y10T428/2918

  including free carbon or carbide or therewith [not as steel] · CPC title

• D01D5/04

  Dry spinning methods {(D01D5/0038 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• Y10T428/249921

  Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or component · CPC title

• D01F9/12

  Carbon filaments; Apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture thereof · CPC title

• H01B1/24 Primary

  the conductive material comprising carbon-silicon compounds, carbon or silicon · CPC title