Enhanced mechanical performance of electrospun graphene/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) composite microfibrous yarns via post-processing

The graphene/Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) composites have drawn increased attention due to their significant improvements in mechanical and physical properties. A post treatment, enhancing the mechanical properties of the electrospun graphene/PAN fibrous yarns, was investigated in this study. The yarns obtained by this post treatment showed increased average strength and decreased elongation, which demonstrated that the as-reported method was an effective way to prepare higher performance electrospun graphene/PAN yarns. The method has potential application in preparation of micro ropes and self-assembled 3D electrospun fibrous yarns. Moreover, it is an innovation to apply dyeing during the investigation of the electrospun fibers under tension condition to analyze the tensile mechanism of yarns. The annular cracks were observed, which was recognized as the immediate cause for the yarns lengthening. Furthermore, according to its growth and fracture, the tensile mechanism of electrospun fibrous yarns was revealed.