A study of partial carbonisation of green pitch fibres to temperatures in the range of 500-1000℃ was carried out on three precursors - a neat pitch and two polymer modified pitches, with a view to find out a suitable temperature at which the fibres acquire considerably improved toughness or handleability (compared to that in the green stage) for their subsequent processing into carbon fibres. A partial carbonisation temperature of 500-600℃ has been identified to result in a remarkable improvement in the toughness/handleability of the fibres in all the three cases. However, from techno-economical considerations, the neat pitch appears to provide the best precursor system for the production of pitch based carbon fibres.

• R.K. Aggarwal(Carbon Technology Unit, Division of Engineering Materials, National Physical Laboratory)
• G. Bhatia(Carbon Technology Unit, Division of Engineering Materials, National Physical Laboratory)
• V. Raman(Carbon Technology Unit, Division of Engineering Materials, National Physical Laboratory)
• M. Saha(Carbon Technology Unit, Division of Engineering Materials, National Physical Laboratory)
• A. Mishra(Carbon Technology Unit, Division of Engineering Materials, National Physical Laboratory)