PATTERN SELECTION MECHANISM IN MESOPHASE CARBON-FIBERS

Carbonaceous mesophases are spun into high performance carbon fibres u sing the melt spinning process. The spinning process produces a wide r ange of different fibre textures whose origins are not well understood . The cross section fibre texture is a strong function of temperature, such that at lower temperatures the selected pattern is known as radi al, while at higher temperatures it is known as onion. More intriguing and unexpected is the random pattern that is found in the intermediat e temperature range. This paper uses theory and simulation to reproduc e the fibre textures, and to identify the selection mechanisms that ex plain the origin of the observed patterns.