A method of mobilizing and aligning carbon nanotubes and its use in gel spinning of composite fibres

We report a method of improving the alignment of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in a solid strand prepared from a CNT forest without dispersing and regrouping them. The use of a lubricant loosens the interconnections between the carbon nanotubes so that they can slide relative to each other and align themselves longitudinally. A highly stretchable polymer gel fibre is used as a carrier to apply the lubricant to a continuous length of the carbon nanotube strand so that the strand can be drawn uniformly and continuously by a series of drawing operations. The lubricant is then extracted to produce a highly aligned carbon nanotube reinforced polymer composite fibre that demonstrates a remarkable reinforcement effect. The CNT strength utilisation in the composite fibre is one order of magnitude greater than that in a pure carbon nanotube spun yarn.