Carbon Fibers with Low Cost and Uniform Disordered Structure Derived from Lignin/Polyacrylonitrile Composite Precursors

Lignin/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) composite precursors and PAN precursors were prepared by wet spinning and then converted into carbon fibers together under different carbonization temperatures. The microscopic morphology, mechanical properties and microstructure of the carbon fibers were studied. All the carbon fibers had dense structure without any visible macrovoids. Carbon fibers with tensile strength of 2.1 GPa and tensile modulus of 224 GPa were obtained from the lignin/PAN composite precursor by carbonizing at 1200 °C. Interestingly, the lignin/PAN-based carbon fibers had a unique uniform disordered carbon structure. They were expected to be applied in the fields of electrothermal conversion and thermal insulation, besides composites.