Effects of spinning solution on properties of carbon fiber precursors prepared by liquefied wood

Carbon fiber precursors can be prepared by melt-spinning from solution which was obtained from liquefied wood in phenol. The effects of spinning solution on the properties of the precursors were determined in this study. The resulting showed that the mechanical properties of carbon fiber precursors were improved obviously with the phenol/wood ratio increasing during wood liquefaction. Higher synthetics content led to lower mechanical properties of carbon fiber precursors. The decreasing amplitude of the tensile strength and tensile modulus was markedly and that of elongation at break reached maximum when synthetics content increased from 5.0% to 6.0% and from 3.0% to 4.0%, respectively. Moreover, the tensile strength and tensile modulus of the precursors increased to a small extent and elongation at break decreased greatly when synthesis temperature increased. Finally, the mechanical properties of the precursors first increased and then decreased with an increase in temperature-rising-time for the synthesization of spinning solution, and carbon fiber precursors showed optimum mechanical properties under the condition that temperature-rising-time was 40 min.