Surface Treatment of Pitch based Carbon Fibers

4 Surface treatment of pitch based carbon fibers 

In 1984, DuPont acquired the Exxon pitch based carbon fiber business and it was highly probable that the DuPont fibers were based on the Exxon patents [58] using a neophase pitch, which had been extracted with solvent, as precursor material. Initial studies revealed an oriented core microstructure [59]. Later work showed E130 to have an oriented core [60], or radial [61], but all workers agreed that there were many disclinations, which is consistent with the low graphitizability of the fiber. Kogure, Sines and Lavin [61] are insistent that 

DuPont makes the zigzag radial structure to accommodate residual stresses. So the micrometric zigzags of El 30 favor tensile strength but the nano texture is unfavorable to graphitization. Conoco Inc. took over the business from DuPont and were to initially build a random oriented carbon fiber mat plant based on a mesophase petroleum pitch, but the 

Cracked radial and radial structures are reported to have variable strength, whilst flat layer, introduced by Amoco, is considered to be an improvement. 

Summarizing the above data reveals that micro and nano textures favor electrical and thermal conductivities with perfect planar sheets of lamellae and almost infinite graphite 

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