In this present work, the effect of additional heat-treatment (AHT) in the range from 1800℃ to 2400℃ on the chemical composition, morphology, microstructure, tensile properties, electrical resistivity, and thermal stability of commercial polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fibers was explored by means of elemental analysis, electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, single fiber tensile testing, two-probe electrical resistivity testing, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The characterization results were in agreement with each other. The results clearly demonstrated that AHTs up to 2400℃ played a significant role in further contributing not only to the enhancement of carbon content, fiber morphology, and tensile modulus, but also to the reduction of fiber diameter, inter-graphene layer distance, and electrical resistivity of "as-received" carbon fibers without AHT. The present study suggests that key properties of commercial PAN-based carbon fibers of an intermediate grade can be further improved by proprietarily adding heat-treatment without applying tension in a batch process.

In the present study, fast isothermal stabilization processes for rayon precursor fabrics were performed at 350℃ and 400℃ within 3 minutes and the chemical and physical characteristics of the stabilized fabrics were investigated. In addition, rayon precursor fabrics were pre-treated with three different phosphorous-based flame retardants and then stabilized. The effect of flame retardants on the chemical composition, thermal shrinkage, weight change, thermal stability and XRD results was examined, comparing with those of the precursor fabrics. The result showed that the stabilization of rayon fabrics was most effective as the stabilization temperature was 350℃, the stabilization time was 3 min, and the pre-treatment with phosphoric acid of 1 vol%. The carbon contents of stabilized rayon fabrics were increased with increasing stabilization temperature and time, whereas the oxygen contents were decreased. Also, it is likely that the pre-treatment with phosphoric acid plays a role in retarding the change of chemical structure of rayon fabric. The XRD result was quite consistent with the result showing the effect of phosphoric acid on the chemical composition, thermal shrinkage and weight reduction of rayon fabric.

In the present study, electrospun PAN precursor webs and the stabilized and carbonized nanofiber webs processed under different heat-treatment conditions were characterized by means of weight loss measurement, elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimentric analysis (TGA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The result indicated that stabilization and carbonization processes with different temperatures and heating rates significantly influenced the chemical and morphological characteristics as well as the thermal properties of the stabilized and then subsequently carbonized nanofiber webs from PAN precursor webs. It was noted that the filament diameter and the carbon content of a carbonized nanofiber web as well as its weight change may be effectively monitored by controlling both stabilization and carbonization processes.

In this study, commercially available pitch-based carbon fibers of general grade were post-heat-treated using a boxtype high temperature furnace at 1800℃, 2000˚, 2200℃, and 2400℃, respectively. The fundamental characteristics of each heat-treated carbon fibers were investigated in terms of chemical composition, morphology, thermal stability, X-ray diffraction, single filament tensile test, and electrical resistivity. The result showed that the fiber properties were significantly influenced by the post-heat-treatment, indicating the greater effect with increasing treatment temperature. The carbon contents, thermal stability, and tensile properties of the carbon fibers used here were further increased by the post-heat-treatment, whereas the d-spacing between graphene layers and the electrical resistivity were reduced with increasing post-heat-treatment temperature.