Jc. Lee et al., THE EFFECT OF CARBONIZATION TEMPERATURE OF PAN FIBER ON THE PROPERTIES OF ACTIVATED CARBON-FIBER COMPOSITES, Carbon, 35(10-11), 1997, pp. 1479-1484
The PAN (polyacrylonitrile) based carbon fiber composites were prepare
d from mixtures of chopped carbon fibers and phenolic resin. Two diffe
rent carbon fibers were obtained by carbonization of stabilized PAN fi
ber precursors in nitrogen at 1073 and 1273 K, respectively. Samples o
f activated carbon fiber composites (ACFCs) were prepared from the car
bon fiber composites by activation in carbon dioxide at 1123 K for 10-
90 minutes. The effect of carbonization temperature of a precursor fib
er on the specific surface area and the bending strength of ACFCs were
studied in this work. As the bum-off of ACFC made of the fiber carbon
ized at 1073 K was increased from 37 to 75%, the specific surface area
increased from 500 to 1100 m(2) g(-1), and the bending strength decre
ased from 3.6 to 1.8 MPa. These values were about two times larger tha
n those made of the fiber carbonized at 1273 K. The effect of carboniz
ation temperature of a precursor fiber on the bending strength of ACFC
was ascribed to the bonding strength between the carbonized fiber and
phenolic resin binder, and to the density of the ACFC. (C) 1997 Elsev
ier Science Ltd.