Carbon Fibers

Abstract

Carbon fibers are primarily used as reinforcing materials to increase the strength and stiffness of advanced composites and are commonly manufactured using polyacrylonitrile (PAN), isotropic pitch, mesophase pitch, or regenerated cellulose as a precursor fiber material. Commercially available carbon fibers from PAN or pitch possess low density (1.75–2.20 g/cm 3 ), high tensile strength (3–7 GPa) and tensile modulus (200–935 GPa), as well as high compressive strength (1–3 GPa) and compressive modulus (100–300 GPa). Continued development of alternative precursor materials and lower energy intensive stabilization and carbonization process improvements in the carbon fiber manufacturing process are underway.