Effect of stabilization of the electrospun polyacrylonitrile fibers on electromagnetic properties of carbon fibers

¹ Institute of Atomic and Molecular Physics, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, P.R. China
² Textile College, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, P.R. China

^a e-mail: yongyiyao@scu.edu.cn

Received: 9 October 2011
Revised: 16 January 2012
Accepted: 14 February 2012
Published online: 1 March 2012

Abstract

The stabilized fibers with different relative cyclization index were prepared by stabilization of electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers at temperatures of 275, 290 and 300 ºC. Then electrospun PAN-based carbon fibers were prepared by carbonization of the stabilized fibers at 700 ºC in a nitrogen atmosphere. The thermal property of as-spun fibers during the stabilization process was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. The evolution of chemical structure and morphology of the PAN-based stabilized fibers was studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Microwave electromagnetic properties of these carbonized fibers were investigated in the range of 1.5–18.0 GHz by the vector network analyzer. The reflection loss was calculated by the measured electromagnetic parameter. The results indicate that the stabilization has a significant effect on the electromagnetic and microwave absorbing properties of the carbon fibers.