SOME FACTORS FOR THE HIGH PERFORMANCES OF MESOPHASE PITCH-BASED CARBON-FIBER

The tensile strength and Young's modulus of the carbon fibres prepared from naphthalene derived mesophase pitch were studied by varying the spinning temperature, heating rate and final temperature of the stabil ization and graphitization temperatures to find the best properties ob tainable from the particular pitch. The heating rate was very influent ial on the tensile strength of the fibre; a slow heating of 0.5-degree s-C min-1, provided the highest strength, as high as 5 G Pa at the opt imum final temperature of stabilization. A higher or lower final tempe rature reduced the strength. Insufficient oxygen uptake or decompositi on of oxygen groups at the surface of the fibre could induce defects, reducing the strength. In contrast, Young's modulus of the fibres was rather insensitive to preparation conditions. The carbonization and gr aphitization temperature influenced the mechanical properties as follo ws: the strength increased stepwise with the carbonization temperature , whereas the modulus increased sharply with the graphitization temper ature. The structural factors most influential differed with these pro perties.