Texture studies of carbon and graphite tapes by XRD texture goniometry

Novel mesophase pitch-based carbon and graphite tapes have been developed, in which the graphite basal planes are aligned predominantly either parallel or perpendicular to the tape surface. The XRD texture goniometer has been used to quantifiably characterise the orientation of the graphite layers in these novel materials to provide a correlation between processing parameters, structural orientation and physical properties. The pole figures of the carbon and graphite tapes clearly show the arrangement of the graphitic crystalline structure within the tapes which can be directly correlated with the textures as observed in transverse cross-sections in the SEM. X-ray texture analyses of the as-spun mesophase pitch tapes indicate that they have better initial preferred orientation along the tapes compared to as-spun circular fibres. Additionally, the tapes can be made to have a texture in which the graphite layers are largely orientated parallel to the tape surface which may make them more graphitisable materials for thermal management applications. (C) 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers.