Preparation of carbon materials with high conductivity through self-sintering of mesophase pitch-based oxidized fibers

Mesophase pitch was melt-spun with a spinneret of ribbon-shaped section followed by oxidative stabilization; then the mesophase ribbon-shaped oxidized fibers were self-sintered by hot-pressing without using a binder. The effect of ultimate oxidation temperature for mesophase-based ribbon-shaped fibers under the same heating rate and oxidation time on the functional groups of the fibers, and the formability and properties of the resulting carbon materials were investigated by infrared spectroscopy (IR) and scanning electron microscopy. Results showed that the ribbon-shaped mesophase fibers oxidized at a moderate range of ultimate temperature can be self-sintered into carbon materials with high conductivity, density and bend strength. As an example, the electrical resistivity, thermal conductivity, bend strength and density of carbon materials formed by self-sintering of (ribbon-)shaped fibers oxidized at an ultimate temperature of 260℃ are 0.56μΩm, 830W/(m·K), 125.9MPa and 2.16g/cm~3, respectively.