Surface studies of carbon fibres

Effects of surface oxidation treatments on PAN-based Courtaulds high modulus (HM), low modulus (LM), and Akzo LM carbon fibres have been studied using XPS, chemical derivatisation, ATR-FTIR, contact angle measurement, and SEM. Surface oxygen concentration was found to increase with oxidation treatments. For Courtaulds fibres, the increase was more significant for LM fibre than for HM fibre, which was attributed to the less graphitic nature of LM fibre and more reactive edge sites present on LM fibre surface. [Continues.]