Carbon fibers applications

Brasquet, C. and Le Cloirec, P., Adsorption onto activated carbon fibers Application to water and air treatments, Carbon, 1997, 35(9), 1307 1313. 

There are two types of machines that can be used for injection molding—one fitted with a plunger and the other a screw type injection unit, the latter being preferred for carbon fiber applications. Section 17.9.2 explains the functions of the individual parts of an injection molding machine and describes the terminology used for this application. 

Polyether ether 30% carbon fiber application Automotive engines, pump... 

PAH High-strength carbon fiber. U.K. [18] Sparked rapid growth of carbon fiber applications... 

Most textile acrylics contain 10-15% comonomers. For carbon fiber precursors lower comonomer levels are used (about 5%) comonomers are selected that promote the reactions in the aftertreatment (methyl acrylate, itaconic acid). Wet spinning is preferred because the cross-section can be controlled better then. In dry spinning skin formation can hardly be prevented and eventually the cross-section collapses into a "dog bone shape, which is not desirable in carbon fiber applications. Precursor filaments are drawn to much higher draw ratios (> lOx) than tex-... 

Composite materials can expand in non-appearance applications, such as under the hood and strueturd parts. There are heat resistant materials available in the composite library that ean resist the increasing temperatures that will eome from the new generation of truck engines. Carbon fiber application can reduce weight and give improved structural properties that could result in new composite materials used for tie rods, frames, floors et al that currently is not be eonsidered. Composite usage may have to rethink the types of applications they wish to be considered for in future programs in order to maintain a presence in the transportation industry. 

Thus far the importance of carbon cluster chemistry has been in the discovery of new knowl edge Many scientists feel that the earliest industrial applications of the fullerenes will be based on their novel electrical properties Buckminsterfullerene is an insulator but has a high electron affinity and is a superconductor in its reduced form Nanotubes have aroused a great deal of interest for their electrical properties and as potential sources of carbon fibers of great strength... 

The original drive for the development of modem carbon fibers, in the late-1950s, was the demand for improved strong, stiff and lightweight materials for aerospace (and aeronautical) applications, particularly by the military in the West. The seminal work on carbon fibers in this period, at Union Carbide in the U.S.A., by Shindo, et al, in Japan and Watt, et al, in the U.K., is well-documented [4-7]. It is always worth pointing out, however, that the first carbon fibers, prepared from cotton and bamboo by Thomas Edison and patented in the U.S.A. in 1880, were used as filaments in incandescent lamps. 

Today, carbon fibers are still mainly of interest as reinforcement in composite materials [7] where high strength and stiffness, combined with low weight, are required. For example, the world-wide consumption of carbon fibers in 1993 was 7,300 t (compared with a production capacity of 13,000 t) of which 36 % was used in aerospace applications, 43 % in sports materials, with the remaining 21 % being used in other industries. This consumption appears to have increased rapidly (at 15 % per year since the early 1980s), at about the same rate as production, accompanied by a marked decrease in fiber cost (especially for high modulus fibers). 

Nawa, M., Nogami, T. and Mikawa, H., Application of activated carbon fiber fabrics to electrodes of rechargeable battery and organic electrolyte capacitor, J. Electrochem. Soc., 1984, 131(6), 1457 1459. 

Because of their unique blend of properties, composites reinforced with high performance carbon fibers find use in many structural applications. However, it is possible to produce carbon fibers with very different properties, depending on the precursor used and processing conditions employed. Commercially, continuous high performance carbon fibers currently are formed from two precursor fibers, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and mesophase pitch. The PAN-based carbon fiber dominates the ultra-high strength, high temperature fiber market (and represents about 90% of the total carbon fiber production), while the mesophase pitch fibers can achieve stiffnesses and thermal conductivities unsurpassed by any other continuous fiber. This chapter compares the processes, structures, and properties of these two classes of fibers. 

Further improvements in the properties of PAN-based carbon fibers are likely to emerge through improved stabilization, that is, by creating the ideally cross-linked fiber. On the other hand, as purer pitch precursors become available, further improvements in mesophase pitch-based carbon fibers are likely to arise from optimized spinnerette designs and enhanced understanding of the relationship between pitch chemistry and its flow/orientation behavior. Of course, the development of new precursors offers the potential to form carbon fibers with a balance of properties ideal for a given application. 

A major stimulus for the development of any low-cost carbon fibers is for their potential applications in the automotive industry, which identifies carbon fiber... 

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