Transverse compressive properties of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based and pitch-based single carbon fibers

In this study, transverse compressive properties of high tensile strength polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based (T1000GB), high modulus PAN-based (M60JB), high modulus pitch-based (K13D), and high ductility pitch-based (XN-05) single carbon fibers were measured using a direct compression test. The transverse compressive modulus, Ef (TC), of T1000GB, M60JB, K13D, and XN-05 single fibers corresponded to 8.94 GPa, 3.30 GPa, 1.44 GPa, and 17.49 GPa, respectively. The transverse compressive strengths, σf (TC), of T1000GB, M60JB, K13D, and XN-05 single fibers corresponded to 0.894 GPa, 0.999 GPa, 0.037 GPa, and 1.438 GPa, respectively. The results indicate that the high ductility pitch-based, the high strength PAN-based, and the high modulus PAN-based single carbon fibers possess high compressive modulus and strength. In contrast, the high modulus pitch-based single carbon fiber possess low compressive strength and modulus. Statistical distributions of transverse compressive strength were characterized. The Weibull modulus for T1000GB, M60JB, K13D, and XN-05 single fibers corresponded to 6.86, 7.57, 9.72, and 5.41, respectively. The result indicate that the structure/microstructure parameters are clearly correlated with transverse compressive properties of PAN-based and pitch-based single carbon fibers and especially with the transverse compressive modulus/strength and the Weibull modulus of transverse compressive strength.