Enhancing the mechanical features of poly(vinyl) alcohol nanofibers with the addition of boron nitride

Year 2020, Volume: 5 Issue: 4, 192 - 198, 29.12.2020

Hazal Gergeroglu , Neslihan Sakar Hamed Ghorbanpoor , Çağlar Özer

https://doi.org/10.30728/boron.696373

Abstract

Improvement of nano-sized products with boron additives with remarkable properties has become a popular trend for many different application areas. Here, we have reported an efficient poly(vinyl) alcohol (PVA) based composite nanofiber which was functionalized with the hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) via electrospinning technique, for the first time as far as known, for body-armor and protective clothing applications. PVA-based composite nanofibers containing h-BN with a diameter of approximately 326 nm have shown significant mechanical features compared to pure PVA nanofibers with a diameter of about 223 nm. Mechanical features were investigated by nanoindentation and the results of nanoindentation demonstrated that the elastic modulus of PVA nanofibers increased by 77%, and hardness values of polymeric nanofibers reached ten times more, by the addition of h-BN. FTIR and XRD characterizations approved that there is no chemical change of h-BN when it was integrated into the PVA based composite nanofibers. We exceptionally believe that the achieved results offer a potential lightness and cost-effective strategy for body armor and protective clothing applications in contrast to boron carbide-based body armor products, which have main problems such as weightiness and high-priced.

Keywords

Body armor, Boron nitride, Composite nanofibers, Elektrospinning, Nanoindentation

Thanks

The authors appreciate to Center for Fabrication and Application of Electronic Materials, Dokuz Eylul University for which this study was carried out.

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