Polyacrylonitrile Essay

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Composite Material Technology: Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) - Based Carbon Fibers Processing
Carbon is one of the 115 chemical elements discovered on Earth which is part of the nonmetals group with other elements such as nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen. Carbon as an element has good stability, it is very light, very stable, and has many types of forms such as graphite, and coal. Carbon fiber is just another form of carbon, basically has filaments between five to ten micrometers in diameter of pure carbon or at least 90% of carbon. Thousand carbon fibers are twisted together to form a long chain, which can then be used in a variety of raw forms, including yarns, weaves, and braids, which are in turn mixed with synthetic resins to create the carbon fiber as a composite material. Based on different characteristics carbon fibers can be divided into three principals groups: according to carbon fiber tensile modulus, according to precursor fiber materials, and according to final heat …show more content…

The Carbonization process used to create carbon fiber is called pyrolysis, which uses nitrogen gas and heat as a catalyst to increase the vibrational energy of atoms. The pyrolysis breaks the bonds between carbon atoms and nitrogen atoms as well as the bonds between carbon atoms and oxygen atoms. As a result, the polymer structures formed during cross-links stabilization is converted into hexagonal carbon structures. Non carbon atoms such as oxygen, and nitrogen are removed as gas through the atmosphere. The final carbon content is over 90 % after carbonization and the temperature range of carbonization is from 900 to 1600 °C in an inert atmosphere. Heat treatment, optimum tension, completion of the reactions, and keep the molecular orientation of the precursor fiber are vital variables to produce a crystalline structure aligned more perfectly and improve the tensile strength of the

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