Efficient preparation of carbon fibers using plasma assisted stabilization

Continuous and rapid stabilization of polyacrylonitrile fiber bundles assisted by atmospheric pressure plasma for fabricating large-tow carbon fibers

“…However, details of the process have not been published. We previously reported an efficient stabilization process using batch-type plasma and PAN fibers with only 3 k filaments [11]. Compared with atmospheric oxygen in the conventional thermal stabilization process, the active oxygen species generated by plasma were able to more efficiently stabilize the PAN fibers due to their higher reactivity.…”

Effects of drawing process on the structure and tensile properties of textile-grade PAN fiber and its carbon fiber

“…Therefore, lowering the price of CFs is one of the most important issues with CFs and their composite industries. To reduce processing cost, plasmaassisted stabilization was introduced (8). Compared to the conventional stabilization process of using heat treatment only, a significant decrease in processing time was observed in the former because of the atmospheric pressure of plasma-induced oxygen species, which diffused into PAN fibers for efficient stabilization.…”

Two step microwave plasma carbonization including low plasma power pre-carbonization for polyacrylonitrile based carbon fiber

“…CF production also inevitably includes processes that require considerable energy, such as a stabilization process in oxidative atmosphere, and a carbonization process under inert gas streams [7]. Atmospheric pressure plasmas [8,9] and electron beams [10] have been discussed as alternatives to conventional thermal stabilization processes because their adoption has been shown to be time saving or energy saving, which leads to the reduction in process cost. Replacing existing thermal carbonization processes with the use of microwave plasmas is also being considered as a more energy efficient process [11].…”