Pitch is an attractive raw material for carbon fiberprecursors due to its low cost stemming from its availability as a residue of coking and petroleum processes. Ford Motor Company reported a carbon fibertarget price of 11.0/kg by using a fast cycle-time manufacturing method with carbon fiberin an inexpensive format, allowing for an average retail price of gasoline of 3.58/gallon. They also recommended the use of carbon fiberwith strength of 1700 MPa, modulus of 170 GPa, and 1.5% elongation. This study introduced a ca. 5.5 μm carbon fiberwith 2000 MPa tensile strength obtained from a precursor through simple distil-lation of petroleum residue. Petroleum pitch based carbon nanofibersprepared via electros-pinning were characterized and potential applications were introduced on the basis of their large specific surface area and relatively high electrical conductivity.

• Yang, Kap Seung(School of Polymer Science and Engineering/Department of Polymer Engineering, Graduate School/Alan MacDiarmid Energy Research Institute, Chonnam National University)
• Kim, Bo-Hye( Division of Science Education, Daegu University) | Kim, Bo-Hye
• Yoon, Seong-Ho( Institute for Materials Chemistry and Engineering, Kyushu University) | Yoon, Seong-Ho