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Virginia Tech

Novel Synthesis of Bulk Nanocarbon (BNC)

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Carbonized organic precursors such as wood, shells and some plant seeds are very porous. They are nanostructured and tend to be hard, but have pure mechanical properties as a result of their porosities. An attempt was made to carbonize an organic precursor to produce a bulk material with much less porosity for possible use in structural applications such as reinforcement in metal and polymer matrices. A bulk nanocarbon (BNC) material was synthesized using high energy ball milling and the carbonization of corn cob. Corn cob was mechanically milled for up to 20 hours by applying high energy ball milling to produce the milled powder. The milled powder was cold-compacted and carbonized at up to 1500°C to fabricate the BNC material. The material revealed both micro and nano-porosities; the porosities decreased with carbonizing temperature and hold time. Micropores were mostly closed for samples carbonized above 1300oC, whereas they formed interconnected network at lower carbonization temperatures. BNC has a young's modulus of 120 GPa, about ten times that of extruded graphite.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Materials Science and Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Materials Science and Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2020

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Tamakloe, Senam
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Aning, Alexander O.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Suchicital, Carlos T. A.
  • Reynolds, William T. Jr.

Subjects

dc:subject × 2

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:26587
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/99289

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Tamakloe, Senam. Novel Synthesis of Bulk Nanocarbon (BNC). masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/99289