THE INFLUENCE OF MELT-SPINNING CONFIGURATION ON THE MICROTEXTURE OF PETROLEUM PITCH-BASED CARBON FIBERS

摘要

Carbon materials are normally used in applications that demand high mechanical properties and low density. In that context, carbon fibers produced from polyacrylonitrile or pitch play a major role. In the present work, a petroleum pitch was produced from an aromatic residue from the petroleum industry, to evaluate the influence of the spinning configuration on the final microtexture of pitch-based carbon fibers. The petroleum pitch was spun using 48 different spinning configurations, varying the diameter and length of the spinning hole and with or without a filter. The obtained structures were analyzed by polarized light optical microscopy and by scanning electron microscopy. For reduced diameters and higher lengths of the spinning hole, it was necessary to use filters. For reduced spinning hole diameters and filters of smaller mesh, the obtained structures showed a more homogeneous distribution. The random microtexture was obtained in the great majority of the considered configurations.