Abstract
The chemical composition and the structural parameters and mechanisms that control the oxidative and thermal stabilities of PAN-based C6000, IM6 and T300 carbon fibres used in high performance composites are reported. The fibres contain significant quantities (2.7 to 7.0 wt%) of chemically bound nitrogen. The higher nitrogen containing fibres tend to be more susceptible to oxidation. In the 1200 to 2500 ° C temperature exposure region, in an inert atmosphere, simultaneous graphitization and nitrogen loss occurs. The nitrogen loss process is predominantly diffusion controlled by the fibre molecular level porosity. The higher nitrogen containing fibre, T300, readily loses its structural integrity at 2500 ° C, because the high nitrogen evolution paths result in a network of poorly interconnected graphitic crystals.
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References
W. B. Alston, in “High Temperature Polymer Matrix Composites”, edited by T. T. Serafini (Noyes Corp., New York, 1987) pp. 186–196.
J. B. Donnet andR. C. Bansal, “Carbon Fibers” (Marcel Dekker, New York, 1984).
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Work partially performed under the auspices of the US Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract Number W-7405-ENG-48.
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De Pruneda, J.A.H., Morgan, R.J. The effects of thermal exposure on the structural and mechanical integrity of carbon fibres. J Mater Sci 25, 4776–4781 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01129941
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01129941