Anodic Oxidation on Structural Evolution and Tensile Properties of Polyacrylonitrile Based Carbon Fibers with Different Surface Morphology

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based carbon fibers with different surface morphology were electrochemically treated in 3 wt% NH4HCO3 aqueous solution with current density up to 3.47 A/m(2) at room temperature, and surface structures, surface morphology and residual mechanical properties were characterized. The crystallite size (L-a) of carbon fibers would be interrupted due to excessive electrochemical etching, while the crystallite spacing (d(002)) increased as increasing current density. The disordered structures on the surface of carbon fiber with rough surface increased at the initial oxidation stage and then removed by further electrochemical etching, which resulting in continuous increase of the extent of graphitization on the fiber surface. However, the electrochemical etching was beneficial to getting ordered morphology on the surface for carbon fiber with smooth surface, especially when the current density was lower than 1.77 A/m(2). The tensile strength and tensile modulus could be improved by 17.27% and 5.75%, respectively, and was dependent of surface morphology. The decreasing density of carbon fibers probably resulted from the volume expansion of carbon fibers caused by the abundant oxygen functional groups intercalated between the adjacent graphite layers.