The changes in the resistivity of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-and pitch-based carbon fibers during isothermal hear-treatment by direct currenting were studied in the temperature range from 1200 to 2000 °C. By applying temperature-time superposition, smooth composite curves were obtained from the resistivity versus time curves at various temperatures. From these composite curves, the changes in the resistivity when the temperature was increased at a constant rate were calculated. The results of calculation approximated well the changes in the resistivity with temperature experimentally measured. Apparent activation energies of about 908 and 838 kJ/mol were calculated respectively for PAN-and pitch-based carbon fibers from the relation between the shift factor used for the temperature-time superposition and the surface temperature of tow. The influence of temperature distribution in tow cross-section on apparent activation energy is considered to be small. The variation of resistivity with time at a constant heat-treatment temperature was assumed as a superposition of first-order rate processes, and a rate constant spectrum was calculated.
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