Carbon Fibers: Precursors, Manufacturing, and Properties

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 structure 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 precursors require different processing conditions in order to achieve improved performance. Future developments are discussed.