The effect of pre‐carbonization on the properties of PAN‐based carbon fibers

Abstract A continuous stabilization and two‐stage carbonization process was used to prepare polyacrylonitrile (PAN)‐based carbon fibers, The effect of pre‐carbonization (300 to 550°C) on the final properties and microstructure of carbon fibers was measured. Experimental results using an X‐ray diffractometer indicated the presence of a less ordered structure at 2Θ from 5 to 18° in the pre‐carbonized fibers and the final carbon fibers. This study found that the pre‐carbonization process strongly affects the microstructure of the resulting carbon fibers. The results also showed that a suitable pre‐carbonization was very conducive to improvement in tensile strength or in Young's modulus of the final carbon fibers. When the final carbon fiber was pre‐carbonized at 300 and 550°C, respectively, these fibers had a higher tensile strength and higher Young's modulus than carbon fibers pre‐carbonized at other conditions.