Fibers from Pitch

Hamada, T., Nishida, T., Furuyama, M. and Tomioka, T., Transverse structure of pitch fiber from coal tar mesophase pitch. Carbon, 1988, 26(6), 837 841. 

Fig. 14. Origin of radial structure in mesophase pitch fibers. From Ref. 23.

Data from the following technical data sheets PAN fibers Amoco Performance Products, Asahi Kasei, BASE Stmctural Materials, Courtaulds-Grafil, Hercules, Mitsubishi Rayon, Toho Beslon, Toray Pitch fibers Amoco Performance Products, Mitsubishi Kasei, Tonen Corp. 

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. 

In the years following the Brooks and Taylor discovery, many researchers attempted to produce a mesophase pitch suitable for carbon fiber production. Otani et al. [21] were first to report producing a high-modulus carbon fiber from a "specific pitch-like material." The precursor used was tetrabenzophenazine, and thus, the resulting material might be considered a synthetic pitch. 

Fig. 7. Processing of carbon fibers from mesophase pitch.

Otani, S., Kokubo, Y. and Koitabashi, T., The preparation of highly-oriented carbon fiber from pitch material. Bull Chem Soc Japan, 1970, 43(10), 3291 3292. Otani, S., Watanabe, S., Ogino, H., ligima, K. and Koitabashi, T., High modulus carbon fibers from pitch materials," Bull Chem Soc Japan, 1972, 45(12), 3710 3714. 

Liu, G. Z., McHugh, J. J., Edie, D. D. and Thies, M. C., Processing carbon fibers from three sources of mesophase pitch. In Carbon 92 Proceedings of International Carbon Conference, Essen, Germany, 1992, pp. 795 797. 

A wide variety of carbon materials has been used in this study, including multi-wall carbon nanotubes (sample MWNT) chemically activated multi-wall carbon nanotubes (sample A-MWNT)16, commercially available vapor grown carbon nanofibers (sample NF) sample NF after chemical activation with K.OH (sample A-NF) commercially pitch-based carbon fiber from Kureha Company (sample CF) commercially available activated carbons AX-21 from Anderson Carbon Co., Maxsorb from Kansai Coke and Chemicals and commercial activated carbon fibers from Osaka Gas Co. (A20) a series of activated carbons prepared from a Spanish anthracite (samples named K.UA) and Subituminous coal (Samples H) by chemical activation with KOH as described by D. Lozano-Castello et al.17 18 activated carbon monoliths (ACM) prepared from different starting powder activated carbons by using a proprietry polymeric binder from Waterlink Sutcliffe Carbons, following the experimental process described in the previous paper13. 

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