Pattern selection mechanism in mesophase carbon fibres

Abstract

Carbonaceous mesophases are spun into high performance carbon fibres using the melt spinning process. The spinning process produces a wide range of different fibre textures whose origins are not well understood. The cross section fibre texture is a strong function of temperature, such that at lower temperatures the selected pattern is known as radial, while at higher temperatures it is known as onion. More intriguing and unexpected is the random pattern that is found in the intermediate temperature range. This paper uses theory and simulation to reproduce the fibre textures, and to identify the selection mechanisms that explain the origin of the observed patterns.