Stabilization of pitch-based carbon fibers accompanying electron beam irradiation and their mechanical properties

Carbon fibers are prepared by stabilizing pitch fibers accompanying electron beam (E-beam) irradiation. The carbon fibers pretreated by E-beam irradiation achieve a higher stabilization index than the carbon fibers that are only heat-stabilized. In addition, the carbon fibers subjected to E-beam irradiation in the stabilization step exhibit a comparable tensile strength to that of general purpose carbon fibers. The carbon fibers pretreated with an absorbed dose of 3000 kGy have a tensile strength of 0.54 GPa for a similar fiber diameter. Elemental, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analyses indicate that E-beam irradiation is an efficient oxidation and dehydrogenation treatment for pitch fibers by showing that the intensity of the aliphatic C-H stretching and aromatic $CH_2$ bending (out-of-plane) bands significantly decrease and carbonyl and carboxylic groups form.