The facile production of high-purity mesophase pitch has been a long-standing desire in various carbon industries. Recently, polymer additives for mesophase production have attracted much attention because of their convenience and efficiency. We propose polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as a strong candidate as an effective additive for mesophase production. The mesophase content and structural, chemical, and thermal properties of pitches obtained with different amounts of added PVDF are discussed. The influence of PVDF decomposition on mesophase formation is also discussed. We believe that this work provides an effective option for mesophase pitch production.

Carbon fibers are prepared by stabilizing pitch fibers accompanying electron beam (E-beam) irradiation. The carbon fibers pretreated by E-beam irradiation achieve a higher stabilization index than the carbon fibers that are only heat-stabilized. In addition, the carbon fibers subjected to E-beam irradiation in the stabilization step exhibit a comparable tensile strength to that of general purpose carbon fibers. The carbon fibers pretreated with an absorbed dose of 3000 kGy have a tensile strength of 0.54 GPa for a similar fiber diameter. Elemental, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analyses indicate that Ebeam irradiation is an efficient oxidation and dehydrogenation treatment for pitch fibers by showing that the intensity of the aliphatic C–H stretching and aromatic CH2 bending (out-ofplane) bands significantly decrease and carbonyl and carboxylic groups form.