Tensile properties of electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibres: Influence of fibre orientation and stretching
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The tensile mechanical properties of electro-spun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nano-fibres are generally lower when compared to melt and solution-spun fibres. This is in part attributed due to insufficient molecular alignment in the electro-spun fibres. In the current study, aligned electro-spun PAN nano-fibres were produced using a recently developed alignment technique. The polymer concentration was 12 wt/vol% in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The tensile strength and modulus of the aligned PAN nano-fibres were 76.31 ± 3.34 MPa and 4.05 ± 1.17 GPa respectively. This represents a threefold increase over the randomly oriented nano-fibres (27.8 ± 1.9 MPa, 0.70 ± 0.22 GPa). Post-production stretching (13.3% strain, held for 1, 2 and 4 hours) of the aligned nano-fibres enhanced the tensile strength by 18.27%. The viscoelastic behaviour of the stretched nano-fibres was characterised using the generalised Maxwell model and excellent correlation (R2 = 0.96) was observed between the experimental and predicted datasets. This paper demonstrates that the mechanical properties of electro-spun PAN nano-fibre can be enhanced through fibre alignment and controlled post-production stretching. This technique offers a method for improving the tensile properties of electro-spun nano-fibres.
Source: Polymer Testing
Institution: University of Birmingham
Language: English
Subfield: Biomaterials
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,370
Funder: UK Research and Innovation
Award: G3472529771
OpenAlex ID: W7127285925