Inorganic fibers flexibility

Hemp rope, once widely used, has largely been replaced by iiylon cord. The flexibility and mechanical strength of hemp, a nettle plant fiber, also characterize nylon synthetic and several other inorganic fibers in common use. 

If a particle appears bent, the designationis obviously appropriate, in accordance with the original definition, and the particle probably possesses enhanced mechanical strength. However, the tena fiber is usually applied to any small elongate inorganic particles without consideration of flexibility or mechanical strength. 

Figure 13.17 compares inorganic nanoplatelets with single-wall carbon nanotubes, dispersed in a typical thermoplastic polymer melt at given and Af values, including the effects of shear rate and particle flexibility. The fact that the nanotube dispersion shows much higher viscosity than the nanoplatelet dispersion at low shear rates is a result of the superposition of two effects. Firstly, there is the effect of the difference between the geometrical characteristics of fibers and platelets, as was also shown in Figure 13.15. Secondly, there is the effect of the much greater stiffness of single-wall carbon nanotubes (E=5000 GPa [45]) compared to nanoplatelets (E-100 GPa), which results in the effects of particle flexibility becoming very small for the nanotubes.

Heating polycarbosilane, whether cured or uncured, results in the evolution of H2 and CH4 gas as the heating temperature is increased. The thermal decomposition product from 500 to 800 C has a structure intermediate between that of organic and inorganic compounds. The product contains many radicals, and the pyrolyzed fiber keeps its flexibility. Although the thermal decomposition of cured polycarbosilane fiber is completed in the neighborhood of 800°C,... 

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