Synthesis of mullite nanofibres by electrospinning of solutions containing different proportions of polyvinyl butyral

International Conference and Expo on Ceramics

August 17-18, 2015 Chicago, USA

Mansoor Keyanpour-Rad

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Material Sci Eng

Abstract :

In this paper, the synthesis of continuous mullite (3Al2O3. 2SiO2) nanofibres by combination of the sol–gel and electrospinning
technique is reported. To find out the optimum viscosity of the electrospinning solution for obtaining the high quality mullite
nanofibers, solutions containing different amounts of polyvinyl butyral (PVB, 0-8 wt. %) and the precursor sol were prepared for
the electrospinning process. The precursor sol was made by using proper amounts of aluminium isopropoxide (AIP), hydrated
aluminium nitrate (AN) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). Crystal phase, microstructure and thermal decomposition behavior
of the electrospun mullite nanofibres were investigated by conventional methods of analysis. The optimal amount of PVB in the
electrospinning polymeric solutions was found to be between 4 and 6 wt% and the mullite nanofibres obtained as such were pure,
smooth and uniform with diameter sizes of 85-130 nm after calcination at 1200°C.

Biography :

Mansoor Keyanpour-Rad received his BS and MS in organic chemistry from California State University (San Jose , California , USA ) in 1968 and 1972, respectively
and PhD in polymer science and technology from Liverpool University ( England) in 1977. He has worked as an organic chemist at Stanford Research Institute,
SRI (Menlo park, California, USA) from 1968 till 1974. He has worked as a researcher at the Materials and Energy Research Center (MERC) for 30 years. Through
these years, He has worked on many research projects in which polymers have had critical roles and applications in their syntheses and properties. He is a full
professor and has served as an International Advisory and Editorial Board member in many world scientific journals. He has published many scientific papers in the
word journals and international conference proceedings.