Chemistry behind Carbon Fiber and the Epoxy Resin

Chemistry behind carbon fiber

A carbon fiber is a long, thin strand of material about 0.0002-0.0004 in (0.005-0.010 mm) in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. The carbon atoms are bonded together in crystals that are more or less aligned parallel to the long axis of the fiber. The crystal alignment makes the fiber incredibly strong for its size. Several thousand carbon fibers are twisted together to form a yarn, which may be used by itself or woven into a fabric (Tanner, 649-654).

The yarn or fabric is combined with epoxy and wound or mold into shape to form various composite materials. Carbon fiber-reinforced composite materials are used to make aircraft and spacecraft parts, racing car bodies, golf club shafts, bicycle frames, fishing rods, automobile springs, sailboat masts, and many other components where light weight and high strength are needed. Carbon fibers were developed in the 1950s as reinforcement for high-temperature molded plastic components on missiles. The first fibers were manufactured by heating strands of rayon until they carbonized (Tanner, 649-654).

This process proved to be inefficient, as the resulting fibers contained only about 20% carbon and had low strength and stiffness properties. In the early 1960s, a process was developed using polyacrylonitrile as a raw material. This produced a carbon fiber that contained about 55% carbon and had much better properties. The polyacrylonitrile conversion process quickly became the primary method for producing carbon fibers. During the 1970s, experimental work to find alternative raw materials led to the introduction of carbon fibers made from a petroleum pitch derived from oil processing (Magat, 463-472).

These fibers contained about 85% carbon and had excellent flexural-strength. Unfortunately, they had only limited compression strength and were not widely accepted. Today, carbon fibers are an important part of many products, and new applications are being developed every year. The United States, Japan, and Western Europe are the leading producers of carbon fibers.

Classification of Carbon Fibers

Carbon fibers are classified by the tensile-modulus of the fiber. Tensile modulus is a measure of how much pulling force a certain diameter fiber can exert without breaking. The English unit of measurement is pounds of force per square inch of cross-sectional area, or psi. Carbon fibers classified as low modulus have a tensile modulus below 34.8 million psi (240 million kPa) (Magat, 463-472).

Other classifications, in ascending order of tensile modulus, include standard modulus, intermediate modulus, high modulus, and ultrahigh modulus. Ultrahigh modulus carbon fibers have a tensile modulus of 72.5-145.0 million psi (500 million-1.0 billion kPa). As a comparison, steel has a tensile modulus of about 29 million psi (200 million kPa). Thus, the strongest carbon fiber is about five times stronger than steel.

The term graphite fiber refers to certain ultrahigh modulus fibers made from petroleum pitch. These fibers have an internal structure that closely approximates the three-dimensional crystal alignment that is characteristic of a pure form of carbon known as graphite (Magat, 463-472).

Raw Materials

The raw material ...