Review

Carbon Fibers: Precursors, Manufacturing,

and Properties

Erik Frank,* Frank Hermanutz,* Michael R. Buchmeiser*

The properties, structure, and processing of carbon fibers are reviewed. Carbon fibers are
made from several precursors, with PAN being the dominating precursor in the market.
Carbon fibers have high tensile strength, high modulus (up to the theoretical limit of around
1000 GPa), and low density, depending on the struc-
ture and processing in very limited combinations.
Both the structure and composition of the precursor
affect the properties of the resulting carbon fibers
significantly. Although the essential processes for
carbon fiber production are similar, different precur-
sors require different processing conditions in order to
achieve improved performance. Future developments
are discussed.

1. Introduction vacuum bagging, liquid molding, and injection molding.

Carbon fiber industry has been growing continuously with
Carbon fibers are made of anisotropic carbon with at least a focus on aerospace, military, construction as well as
92 and up to 100 wt% carbon. Carbon fibers with isotropic medical and sporting goods.[1–4] For the automotive
carbon with high electrical conductivity are available, yet industry, carbon-fiber-reinforced polymeric composites
not part of this paper. Carbon fibers have high tensile (HT) allow for a significant reduction in weight, which is a
strength up to 7 GPa with very good creep resistance, low prerequisite for battery-driven cars.
densities (r ¼ 1.75–2.00 g  cm3) and high moduli (HM) up Global carbon fiber consumption and the major carbon
to E  900 GPa. They lack resistance to oxidizing agents as fiber manufacturers are summarized in Table 1 and 2
hot air and flames, but they are resistant to all other and their estimated capacities are sorted by the main
chemical species. The good mechanical properties make precursor systems PAN and anisotropic pitches.[5] Beside
carbon fiber attractive for use in composites in the form of the continuous growth of carbon fiber production in
woven textiles as well as of continuous or chopped fibers. the last years, the large-volume application of carbon
The composite parts can be produced through filament fiber in automotive industry has been impeded by
winding, tape winding, pultrusion, compression molding, high fiber costs and the lack of high-speed composite
fabrication techniques. However, current investigations
and future developments might well change the market
Dr. E. Frank, Dr. F. Hermanutz, Prof. M. R. Buchmeiser to establish carbon fibers as a mass product like other
Institute of Textile Chemistry and Chemical Fibers (ITCF) synthetic fibers or metals.
Denkendorf, Körschtalstr. 26, 73770 Denkendorf, Germany
The most important precursor in the market is PAN,
E-mail: erik.frank@itcf-denkendorf.de;
while pitch is used for most other carbon fiber types. The
frank.hermanutz@itcf-denkendorf.de;
michael.buchmeiser@itcf-denkendorf.de
formerly used precursor rayon has no commercial impor-
Prof. M. R. Buchmeiser tance today. The processing of carbon fibers from different
Lehrstuhl für Makromolekulare Stoffe und Faserchemie, Institut precursors requires different methods for realizing high
für Polymerchemie, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 55, quality end products. The processing paths are similar,
70550 Stuttgart, Germany nonetheless, very different in detail.

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Table 1. Global carbon fiber consumption in tons.[5] (with per- Michael R. Buchmeiser received his Ph. D. in
mission from MDPI AG, Postfach, CH - 4005 Basel, Switzerland) Organometallic Chemistry in 1993 from the
University of Innsbruck, Austria. He spent one
Industry Carbon fiber consumption [t] year at the MIT in the group of Prof. Richard
R. Schrock. In 1998, he finished his ‘‘Habilitation’’
1999 2004 2006 2008 2010 in Macromolecular Chemistry (University of
Innsbruck) were he held a Faculty Position as
Aerospace 4000 5600 6500 7500 9800 Associate Professor from 1998–2004. From
Industrial 8100 11 400 12 800 15 600 17 500 2004–2009, he held a Faculty Position (C-4
Professor) at the University of Leipzig, Germany.
Sporting goods 4500 4900 5900 6700 6900
From 2005–2009, he also served as Vice Director
Total 16 600 21 900 25 200 29 800 34 200 and Member of Board at the Leibniz Institute of
Surface Modification (IOM), Leipzig, Germany.
Since December 2009, he holds a Faculty
Position (Chair of Macromolecular Compounds
Starting from a given material, a multifilament fiber
and Fiber Chemistry) at the University of Stutt-
is spun with typical 3000 (3 K) to 50 000 (50 K) filaments. gart (Germany) as well as the position of the
This ready spun fiber is defined as a ‘‘precursor’’ fiber Director of the Institute of Textile Chemistry and
for a carbon fiber. The precursor (fiber) is oxidized in air Chemical Fibers, Denkendorf, Germany.
at temperatures between 200–400 8C, strongly depending
Erik Frank received his Ph. D. in Chemical Tech-
on the basic chemistry of the precursor. At temperatures
nology in 2002 from the University of Karlsruhe
up to 1600 8C the oxidized precursor will be carbonized by
(TH) working on heterogeneous catalysis. Since
removing hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and other non- 2003 he works as senior scientist at the Institute
carbon elements. A process, in which higher temperatures for Textile Chemistry and Chemical Fibers (ITCF)
up to 3000 8C are used is called graphitization. Such with focus on carbon in the form of fibers.
graphitization yields carbon fibers with moduli higher Starting from investigations in adding CNTs in
than those of carbonized fibers. The properties of the polymer fiber systems, his focus shifted to indus-
resulting carbon/graphite fibers are limited by many trial research and development of PAN-based
factors such as crystallinity, molecular orientation, and carbon fibers. Research on lignin-based carbon
the amount of defects. The relatively inert surfaces of the fibers from wood as biological resource and
carbon graphite fibers are usually post-treated, i.e., other alternative precursor systems will be car-
ried out in a new research center built at the ITCF
Denkendorf.
Table 2. Estimated name plate carbon fiber capacity in 2005 in Frank Hermanutz received his Ph. D. in Chemical
tons.[5] (with permission from MDPI AG, Postfach, CH - 4005
Technology in 1992 from the University of Stutt-
Basel, Switzerland)
gart working on finishing processes for cellulose.
He then spent one year in the group of Prof. L.
Manufacturer Capacity [t]
Rebenfeld at the Textile Research Institute in
PAN Pitch Princeton, USA, supported by a scholarship of the
German Research Foundation (DFG). Since 1993
Toray Industries (small tow) 9100 he works as senior scientist at the Institute for
Textile Chemistry and Chemical Fibers (ITCF) as
Toho Tenax (Teijin) 8200
head of the cellulose fibre group and head of the
(small/large tow) wet spinning department. His research activities
Mitsubishi Rayon/Grafil 4700 focus on the development of new materials
(small tow) based on cellulose, precursor development for
carbon fiber production, composites and charac-
Zoltek (large tow) 3500
terization of fiber structure parameters in
Hexcel (small tow) 2300 relation to fiber processing and properties.
Formosa Plastics (small tow) 1750
Cytec Engineered Materials 1500 360
(small tow) functionalized by electrochemical methods to improve
SGL Carbon Group/SGL 1500 their adhesion to composite matrices.
Carbon fibers can be classified by their mechanical
Technologies (large tow)
properties into the following types: ultra-high modulus
Mitsubishi Chemical 750
(UHM) (>500 GPa), HM (>300 GPa), intermediate modulus
Nippon Graphite Fiber 120 (IM) (>200 GPa), and HT strength (>4 GPa) carbon fibers.

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melt-assisted spinning process, a plasticizer is used to

reduce the interaction between PAN molecules by decou-
pling the nitrile-nitrile association. This way, the melting
point of plasticized PAN is reduced to an appropriate range
for melt spinning.[10–12] However, until today no melt-
spinning process reached the carbon fiber qualities of wet-
spun PAN-based precursor fibers. This is why wet spinning
is still the preferred method for carbon fiber precursor
processing. Complementary, the so called dry-wet-spinning
with an air gap between the spinning nozzle and the
coagulation bath is used and allows for reaching higher
orientations in the final polymer. Any wet-spinning process
uses carefully filtered solutions of PAN (copolymers).[7]
The solution concentration of 10–30 wt% depends on the
molecular weight and is adjusted to obtain a rheological
Figure 1. Correlation of orientation and Young’s modulus for
carbon fibers made from different precursor systems.[6] Repro-
behavior of the polymer solution that is optimal for
duced with permission, W. Kohlhammer GmbH Verlag, Stuttgart spinning. Polymer solutions are spun through a nozzle
1986. with some thousand holes each having a diameter in the
range of 50–100 mm.[7] Low coagulation rates suppress
the formation of pores and prevent core/shell structures of
The modulus correlates with orientation, however, to a the precursor fiber.[7] The coagulated fibers are then
lesser extent on the precursor used (Figure 1). washed and further stretched in steam or water to remove
excess solvent in the fibers and to increase the molecular
orientation of the polymer chains. Fibers can be drawn at a
2. PAN-Based Carbon Fibers
higher temperature of 130–150 8C, e.g., by using glycerol
as a drawing medium.[7] A further increase in tensile
2.1. Processing
properties is observed as the orientation increases through
Poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) is currently the most widely used the high-temperature drawing process. Despite the attrac-
precursor for carbon fibers. PAN can be polymerized from tiveness of the process in terms of variability and precursor
toxic and cancerogenic acrylonitrile (AN) with a specific fiber properties, a main problem of wet-spinning, however,
co-monomer content of up to 5 wt% through a radical is related to the additionally costs for solvent handling.
polymerization process. Co-monomers such as methyl In view of the proposed thermally-induced cyclization
acrylate are used to improve the processability of PAN- process (Figure 2), research also addressed the use of
based precursor fibers.[7] Thus, with increasing amounts of isotactic (it) PAN as carbon fiber precursor.[13,14] Thus,
acrylic esters, fiber formation proceeds more smoothly Hirotaka and Hiroaki patented a process for preparing
during the coagulation process. The incorporation of a co- highly it PAN copolymers as carbon fiber precursors
monomer can also improve the mechanical properties of a through solid-phase polymerization.[13] Teijin Ltd. patented
carbon fiber due to the increased molecular orientation in a potential PAN carbon fiber precursor consisting of at least
both the precursor and the final carbon fibers. Acidic 50 wt% of AN in which the it triad proportion within the AN
comonomers like acrylic or itaconic acid facilitate the structural chain was at least 35 mol%.[13] Such precursor
cyclization reaction in the stabilization step[8] Their polymers allowed for finishing the flame-retarding treat-
copolymerization with AN is accomplished in solution ment at a lower temperature, and/or in a shorter time.
or via suspension polymerization. Typically, PAN-based However, other researchers reported that the stereoregu-
copolymers used for carbon fiber synthesis have molecular larity of PAN was not so important since a racemization
weights in the range of 70 000 < Mn < 260 000 g  mol1.[7] could occur rapidly at elevated temperature.[15]
Used solvents can be water, but also dimethyl sulfoxide, The high costs for typical PAN-based precursor proces-
ZnCl2, and NaSCN,[9] depending on the following processing sing initiated the search for low-cost alternatives at a
step of spinning. comparably early stage of carbon fiber history. Thus, the
PAN-based copolymers contain polar nitrile groups. Hexcel Corp. (Sandy, UT, USA.) investigated the use of a
Consequently, the polymer chains experience a strong textile-grade PAN as a precursor for carbon fibers for
interaction. PAN homopolymers undergo thermally automotive industry with a targeted modulus and tensile
induced cyclization before a melting point is reached. This strength of 172 and 2.7 GPa, respectively.[15–17] However,
makes the melt spinning of pure PAN impossible unless the properties of textile PAN-based carbon fibers are very
large amounts of solvent additives are added. In such a limited by the non-optimized chemistry, cyclization

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size diameters <5 mm[18] and also on

the application of specially designed
guides with controlled fiber tension to
avoid fiber damages during precursor
spinning. Today, these techniques are
well designed and approved so that
impurities and macro- and microvoids
can be avoided.
Furthermore, the agglutination of sin-
gle precursor filaments must be inhibited
for perfect fiber performance in the
stabilization and carbonization ovens.
Within that context, the application of
silicone oils was found to be advanta-
geous in terms of lubricity and smooth-
ness compared to conventional finishes
based on higher alcohols and fatty acids.
Although a detailed prescription of the
applied lubricants cannot be found in the
literature, several patents give a good
prescription of the types of compounds
used.[19,20]
So far, efforts on the enhancement of
the tensile strength concentrated on the
chemistry and physics of the oxidative
stabilization and carbonization reaction.
More recently, polymer composition
moved into the center of interest since
special co-monomers[21] have a large
impact on polymer orientation during
spinning as well as on decomposition
kinetics and physics, e.g., by lowering the
stabilization temperature. Though the
actual compositions used by different
carbon fiber producers are not published,
comparably detailed descriptions of the
effect of certain co-monomers is provided
[22]
Figure 2. Model reaction paths of stabilization/oxidation of PAN. (Reproduced with in patents.
[5] Generally, the co-mono-
permission from MDPI AG, Postfach, CH - 4005 Basel, Switzerland) mers can be classified in four groups:
(i) densification accelerators and (ii)
drawing promoters acting in the spin-
behavior, and purity. Nonetheless, by using hydrogen ning and drawing processes thereby increasing polymer
peroxide in an alkaline medium, textile PAN can processed orientation, crystallization and drawability; (iii) stabiliza-
on an industrial scale.[15–17] tion accelerators and (iv) oxygen permeation promoters
acting in the stabilization and carbonization process. A
proper selection of both the type and amount of co-
2.2. Improving the Properties of PAN-Based Carbon
monomers determines the properties of the final carbon
Fibers by Precursor Modification
fiber. Unfortunately, identifying the right composition of
Conventional approaches toward higher tenacity concen- the precursor polymer for desired end use properties is
trate on decreasing the macro defects, micro-voids and difficult based on the huge numbers of possibilities though
impurities inside single filaments. Furthermore, special selected patents[22] provide a good base for the selection of
attention focuses on reducing the defects generated on the the precursor polymer and composition. Components
filament surface. Efforts involve highly effective filtration that directly improve the tensile strength of carbon fibers
techniques using non-woven metallic filters having pore are densification accelerators and oxygen permeation

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2.3. Oxidization/Stabilization of PAN-Based

Precursors
Any PAN precursor has to be ‘‘stabilized’’ to become
carbonizable. In the stabilization process, the polymer
chains are converted to a heteroaromatic structure, similar
in some aspects to the later carbon phase. The conversion is
also called ‘‘cyclization’’. Cyclization can be accomplished in
Figure 3. Model of turbostratic carbon. the absence of oxygen, because the nitrile groups can
undergo intramolecular cyclization, however, for high-
quality carbon fibers typically oxygen (from air) is used to
promoters. Densification is required to inhibit the forma- promote inter- and intramolecular reactions.
tion of micro-voids by increasing the hydrophilic character The stabilization process itself is a very complex cascade
of the polymer. The improvement of oxygen permeability is of chemical reactions, which has been investigated
narrowing the modulus distribution in each single intensively in the last decades. Different models have been
filament. Consequently, the stress concentration on any proposed for the cyclization of PAN molecules as shown in
defect in the carbon fiber is inhibited. Figure 2. [5] Houtz proposed a cyclized and dehydrated
Preferable densification accelerator co-monomers are structure shown in Figure 2a.[23] This structure is often cited
vinyl compounds with hydrophilic functional groups such as the product of low temperature stabilization. Schurz
as carboxyl, sulfonyl, or amino groups, e.g., acrylic acid, stated that an azomethine cross-link could be formed as
methacrylic acid, itaconic acid, allysulfonic acid, and maleic shown in Figure 2b.[24] Since both structures contain no
acid. Preferable oxygen permeation promoters are vinyl oxygen, Standage and Matkowshi[25] proposed an oxidized
carboxylates. Especially esters with a bulky side chain like structure as shown in Figure 1c, Konkin and Watt[26]
propyl esters, butyl esters, and isobutyl esters are highly proposed a ladder structure as depicted in Figure 2d, and
effective. They include, e.g., butyl methacrylate, propyl finally Friedlander et al. proposed a nitrone structure
acrylate, stearyl acrylate, and isobutyl methacrylate.[22] The (Figure 2e).[27] Some researchers have tried to include
stabilization accelerator is used to start the stabilization different structures in the oxidized molecules. For example,
reaction at lower temperatures and in a shorter time. This Clarke et al.[28,29] proposed a structure as shown in Figure 2f,
reduces process costs for the heat treatment enormously. Bailey and Clarke[30] suggested the structure shown
Preferable stabilization accelerators are unsaturated Figure 1g, and Goodhew et al.[31] proposed a structure as
carboxyl acids like acrylic acid, crotonic acid, itaconic presented in Figure 2h. Non-reacted nitrile groups are
acid, and methyacrylic acid, which can also be used as present in both Figure 2g and h due to the random initiation
co-monomers for increasing density.[22] sites and the atactic nature of PAN. The orientation of the
The drawing promoter improves the orientation of the polymer chains during pyrolysis is preserved by strong
polymer during spinning by lowering the glass transition intermolecular hydrogen bonding and by the rigidity of the
point, so that higher draw ratios can be applied. Such ladder structure.
compounds also compensate for the negative influence of The cyclization step in the presence of oxygen (typically
oxygen permeation promoters on the draw ratio during used in carbon fiber industry) is a very exothermic reaction
spinning. It is also important that the drawing promoter and thus releases a lot of heat, particularly in larger
does not inhibit the stabilization reaction. Preferable precursor fiber bundles. This heat release has to be
drawing promoters are, e.g., methyl methacrylate, ethyl controlled carefully in order to avoid defects in the carbon
methacrylate, vinyl acetate, or methyl acrylate.[22] In fibers, decreased carbon yields or full damage of the
principle, an effective stabilization and carbonization can precursor fibers.[32,33]
be achieved with many different co-monomer composi- The main function of acidic co-monomers in the
tions with no preferable way existing so far. In order to precursor, e.g., itaconic acid, is to lower the onset
obtain high-performance fibers in terms of tensile strength temperature of cyclization and to broaden the temperature
and modulus, all process parameters including copolymer range of the exothermic event. However, the role of oxygen
composition, molecular weights, molecular weight dis- exceeds the one of supporting the intramolecular cross-
tribution as well as spinning, drawing, stabilization, and linking of polymer chains. Oxygen also dehydrates the
carbonization parameters must be taken into account. In all main carbon chain, thereby supporting aromatization. An
single steps, any damage to the fiber should be prevented optimum of 8–10 at% of oxygen in the stabilized precursors
since only chemically or mechanically defect-free prepoly- has been reported.[34] Also, SO2, HCl, or Br2 and various other
mer filaments and carbon fibers will show HMs and HT oxidizing agents were investigated as alternatives for
strength. oxygen,[35–47] but none of these agents seem presently

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economically useful. Alternative stabilization methods up of carbon sheet-like layers from carbon-like ribbons
like plasma treatment,[48] electron-beam assisted cycliza- (Figure 5).
tion,[49] or microwave assisted processing[51] are under Finally, alternative methods for carbonization, all aiming
investigation to reduce stabilization times as well as energy on a reduction of energy consumption, need to be
consumption. mentioned. Thus, in a microwave-assisted carbonization
process the carbon fiber itself is selectively heated, leaving
the environment ‘‘cold’’.[52] The increase in speed and
2.4. Carbonization and Graphitization of PAN-Based
decrease in energy consumption entailed with this
Precursors
approach, however, oppose to the homogeneity of the fiber
In the next processing step, the stabilized precursor fibers, temperature in the entire process, resulting in carbon fibers
which are non-meltable and flame-resistant as a result of with poor mechanical performance.
stabilization, are heated in an inert atmosphere and are
thereby converted into carbon fibers. The cyclized polymer
3. Pitch Carbon Fibers
structure now crosslinks in the low-temperature range, and
subsequently additional condensation reactions follow up
3.1. General
to T ¼ 1600 8C, where a carbon phase called ‘‘turbostratic’’
carbon (Figure 4) forms. This carbon phase is well oriented In search for very cheap and carbon-rich (>80% carbon) raw
in fiber direction, but has still many tetrahedral carbon-type materials, pitch-based carbon fibers have been developed.
crosslinks between the graphite-type carbon layers. This Pitch is usually derived as a byproduct from coal- or
particular structure is responsible for the typical HT petroleum-based chemistry. In addition, synthetic pitch
strength carbon fibers. can be produced from synthetic polymers such as PVC. Pitch
The process in which fibers are heated above 1600– from petroleum is preferred, because coal pitch is difficult to
1800 8C up to 3000 8C is called graphitization. At this clean from natural inclusions as defect-sensitive particles.
temperature, the turbostratic carbon more and more heals In contrast to PAN-based precursors, pitch is a low-
its ‘‘defects’’ and graphitic structures are built. This leads to molecular-weight material.
higher moduli, but to lower strength in PAN-based carbon Pitch is first subjected to a cleaning step to remove
fibers (Figure 4). volatile compounds in vacuo.[50] After that, the pitch is
Too high carbonization rates introduce defects in the heated to 350–500 8C in an inert atmosphere.[3] During this
carbon fibers, while low carbonization rates result in temperature treatment, a mesophase is built via the
the loss of large amounts of nitrogen at early stages of condensation of pitch oligomers. This process is very
the carbonization process, which is in fact preferred to difficult to handle and a good knowledge of the processing is
achieve high strength carbon fibers. The entire carboniza- essential (temperature windows of some degrees are
tion releases toxic gases such as NH3 and HCN at typical). However, the resulting mesophase has the
T < 700 8C.[26] Above this temperature, dehydrogenation advantage that at a melt-spinning process instead of a
and denitrification become more important for the build solution-based process can be applied for fiber spinning. In
course of this melt spinning process, the precursor fiber
experiences a very high orientation of the aromatic layers,
which is then directly transformed into the final carbon
fiber. However, both the molecular weight and the
mesophase content must be optimized for melt spinning
conditions.

3.2. Stabilization and Carbonization of Pitch-Based

Carbon Fibers
The pitch-based precursor is stabilized in a similar way than
PAN-based precursors. After the mesophase has been
created, a heating to 250–350 8C in air crosslinks the
precursor to a non-meltable fiber, ready for carbonization.
The stabilization time and temperature depends on the
internal structure of the precursor. The fibers will be
Figure 4. Typical development of tensile strength [GPa] of PAN- carefully pre-carbonized at temperatures of 700–900 8C to
based carbon fibers over maximum heat treatment temperature remove volatiles without voids in the carbon fibers.
(8C). The carbon fiber is carbonized at end-temperatures of

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4. Lignin-Based Carbon Fibers

Besides of PAN and pitch, biopolymers

have again moved into the focus of
interest as precursors for carbon fibers.
In the early years of carbon fiber devel-
opment, rayon was the standard precur-
sor, but low carbon yields and high
production costs limited availability.
Generally speaking, biopolymers should
have a high carbon content and allow for
high carbon yields at low costs. Lignin is
part of wood and available from
paper industry as a major by-product
from chemical pulping processes. In
terms of structure, lignin is also the
only biopolymer containing large quan-
tities of aromatic, i.e., phenolic moieties.
The most used process to obtain lignin
is the Kraft process, in which sulfides
and alkali salts are used to fragment
the natural lignin into soluble oligomers
to separate it from rayon. Besides of
Kraft lignin and other lignin processes,
the so called organosolve lignin is
commercially available in only very
limited quantities as compared to Kraft
lignin.
As early as in the late 1960 s, lignin was
first investigated as a precursor for
carbon fibers.[58] In the 1990 s, Sudo
et al. modified lignin with hydroxyl
groups to get carbon fibers with moder-
ate properties.[59,60] Investigations on
purified organsolve lignin, which is free
of sulfur and other components, were
carried out by Sano and coworkers
applying a melt-spinning process.[61,62]
They prepared carbon fibers with very
Figure 5. Model reaction paths from PAN to carbon phase. low tensile strengths around 0.3 GPa,
compared to a typical commercial PAN
based carbon fiber, starting at 3.5 GPa.
Kadla et al. investigated Kraft and
organosolve lignin as well as lignin
1500–1800 8C. For extreme HM carbon fibers, a graphitiza- blends. The melt-spun fibers were stabilized at 250 8C
tion step up to 3000 8C is applied. Such UHM carbon fibers and carbonized at 1000 8C reaching tensile strengths
are very expensive and limited to special applications like around 0.5 GPa and moduli up to 60 GPa.[63] Blending with
aerospace. PET by Kubo and Kadla resulted in fibers with 0.7 GPa tensile
Pitch-based carbon fibers have very well-oriented carbon strength and 94 GPa modulus.[64] Investigations at the Oak
layers in fiber direction, but the orthogonal orientation of Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) focused on hardwood
the sheets varies over the carbon fiber filament according to lignin and blends of softwood and hardwood lignin.[15]
the spinning conditions.[53–57] Many efforts focused on A more recent report of ORNL is on lignin-derived carbon
improving the shape of the spinnerets in order to fibers with tensile strengths around 0.5 and 29 GPa
influencing the mesophase flow. modulus.[65] An online publication of ORNL shows carbon

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fibers with tensile strengths around 1.0 GPa carbonized Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Land Baden-
Württemberg, Germany.
at 1200 8C.[66]
However, until now all published lignin-based carbon
fiber results have apparently been obtained in discontin-
Received: November 18, 2011; Published online: DOI: 10.1002/
uous experiments without the possibility of stretching mame.201100406
or continuous fiber processing. Published stabilization
methods are basically limited to a very slowly heating in Keywords: alternative precursors; carbon fiber processing; car-
bonization; lignin; polyacrylonitrile
air (0.5 8C  min1). So the data available must be considered
non-optimized as compared to the profoundly investigated
PAN- and pitch-based precursors.

5. Carbon Fibers Derived From Fully

Synthetic Precursors [1] T. Roberts, The Carbon Fiber Industry: Global Strategic Market
Evaluation 2006–2010, Vol. 10, Materials Technology Publi-
cations, Watford 2006, pp. 93–177, 237.
Many synthetic polymers have been investigated in the [2] Committee on High Performance Synthetic Fibers for Com-
past as alternative precursor systems to pitch and PAN. posites, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems,
Modified polyacetylene fibers were melt-spun and National Research Council, High-Performance Synthetic Fibers
thermally stabilized and carbonized at 1000 8C resulting for Composites, Vol. 23, National Academy Press, Washington
1992, pp. 56–64, 86.
in carbon fibers with 2.3 GPa tensile strength and 386 GPa [3] J. B. Donnet, R. C. Bansal, Carbon Fibers, 2nd edition Marcel
modulus.[67] Polyvinylacetylene was investigated as an Dekker, New York 1990, pp. 1–145.
equivalent to AN and subjected to cyclization with a 300 nm [4] C. Red, Compos. Manuf. 2006, 7, 24.
UV source in nitrogen, followed by oxidation at 225 8C in [5] X. Huang, Materials 2009, 2, 2369.
[6] E. Fitzer, E. Heine, G. Jacobsen, in Verstärkte Kunststoffe in der
air.[68] No properties of the final fibers were published.
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