The production of vapor grown carbon fibers from a mixture of benzene, toluene and xylene using the liquid pulse injection technique

Abstract

Vapor grown carbon fibers were successfully produced from benzene, toluene and xylene, and also from mixtures of these hydrocarbons using the liquid pulse injection technique developed by the authors. This indicates the possibility of the usage of this kind of low-cost material as the carbon source for fiber production. From the analysis of the growth curves of the fibers for each of the carbon sources, it was found that the initial growth rate of the fibers decreases as the average number of methyl groups per benzene ring of the carbon source increases. This decrease may be attributed to the inhibiting effect of the methyl group. The rate constants of fiber growth using benzene, toluene and xylene as the carbon source were calculated. They were 1.7 × 10 −3, 0.85 × 10 −3 and 0.65 × 10 −3 m 4/(mol s) for benzene, toluene and xylene, respectively.