1.The Birth of Carbon Fiber

Carbon fiber, as a popular material nowadays, is known as "black gold". Do you know how it was discovered? As early as the 1870s, carbon fiber was invented. With the maturity of vacuum technology, Swan invented the incandescent lamp and obtained a patent in 1878. In 1879, Edison invented an incandescent lamp with carbon fiber as the filament. He shapes natural fibers such as basswood bark, jute, Manila hemp, and hemp, and then bakes them at high temperatures; These cellulose fibers are then carbonized into carbon fibers. Edison's "carbon fiber filament manufacturing technology for incandescent light bulbs" was patented in the United States in 1892.

2.The emergence of synthetic carbon fibers and chemical fibers

In the early 20th century, artificial fibers such as acetate and viscose emerged, especially in the mid-19th century. The commercialization of chemical fibers such as polyvinyl chloride, polyamide, and polyacrylonitrile provided a prerequisite for the development of high-performance carbon fibers in the United States. In the mid-1950s, American William F. Abbott invented a method of carbonizing synthetic fibers to improve the performance of carbon fibers. Abbott's invention claims that it can increase the carbon density and hardness of carbon fibers, and maintain their morphology without being damaged under mechanical force; And the diameter is finer, the surface is cleaner, and the flexibility and elasticity are better; Fiber diameter and performance can be designed and controlled; The raw materials must be regenerated cellulose fibers and synthetic fibers such as viscose, copper ammonia, and saponified acetic acid, and natural fibers cannot be used.

3.The emergence of high-performance carbon fibers

The modern era of carbon fiber began in 1956, when Union Carbide opened the Palmer Technology Center in the suburbs of Cleveland, which was one of the company's main laboratories, based on the popular university style laboratories of the 1940s to 1950s, and brought together young scientists from different backgrounds from various regions. In 1959, scientists at the Palmer Technology Center invented the preparation technology of high-performance artificial silk based carbon fibers. In 1960, Becken's discovery and invention of graphite whiskers received a US patent. Becken believed at the time that the preparation of graphite whiskers was only a laboratory achievement, and there was still a long way to use its principles to produce practical carbon fibers. The next decade of research aims to obtain low-cost and efficient production of high-performance carbon fiber technology with graphite whisker characteristics.

4.Polyacrylonitrile based carbon fiber technology

Rayon, polyacrylonitrile, or asphalt are the three major precursors of carbon fibers. Among them, the comprehensive performance of acrylonitrile based carbon fibers is particularly outstanding, and they have replaced artificial silk based carbon fibers in many fields. Scientists from the UK and Japan were the first to develop pure acrylonitrile polymers. During processing, the continuous carbon and nitrogen atom chains in their molecular chains can form highly oriented graphite like layers, thereby reducing the demand for hot stretching.

In 1961, Akio Fujito of the Japan Institute of Industrial Technology developed PAN based carbon fibers with a modulus of 140GPa in the laboratory, which was three times higher than the modulus of rayon based carbon fibers. The invention of Akio Kando was rapidly promoted, and Japan's Toray Industrial Company developed excellent performance acrylic precursor fibers and established a carbon fiber pilot plant, thus occupying a leading position in PAN based carbon fiber technology.