Carbon fibers are a new breed of high-strength materials which have been described as a fiber containing at least 90% carbon obtained by the controlled pyrolysis of appropriate fibers. Carbon fiber composites are ideally suited to applications where strength, stiffness, lower weight, and outstanding fatigue characteristics are critical requirements. They also can be used in the occasion where high temperature, chemical inertness and high damping are important. In recent decades, carbon fibers have found wide applications in commercial and civilian aircraft, recreational, industrial, and transportation markets. Therefore, understanding the basic structure, synthesis and physicochemical properties of carbon fibers is very important to apply them as a precursor of above applications. This review paper discuss the general information and manufacture technique of carbon fibers used for improving the performance of composite materials in various industries for the present.

• Min-Kang Seo(Dept. of Chemistry, Inha University)
• Kyeong-Eun Choi(Dept. of Chemistry, Inha University)
• Byung-Gak Min(Dept. of Polymer Science and Engineering, Chungju National University)
• Soo-Jin Park(Dept. of Chemistry, Inha University)