Theory and Simulation of Fiber Texture Formation and Rheology of Carbonaceous Mesophase Fibers

Abstract

ABSTRACTCarbonaceous mesophases are discotic nematic liquid crystals that are spun into high performance carbon fibers using the melt spinning process. The spinning process produces a wide range of different fiber textures and cross-sectional shapes. Circular planar polar (PP), circular planar radial (PR) textures, ribbon planar radial (RPR), and ribbon planar line (RPL) textures are ubiquitous ones. This paper presents, solves, and validates a model of mesophase fiber texture formation based on the classical Landau-de Gennes theory of liquid crystals, adapted here to carbonaceous mesophases. The effects of fiber cross-sectional shape and elongational flow on texture formation are characterized. Emphasis is on qualitative model validation using existing experimental data [1, 2]. The results provide additional knowledge on how to optimize and control mesophase fiber textures.