Cyclization mechanism and kinetics of poly(acrylonitrile-co-2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid) copolymer investigated by FTIR spectroscopy

This Review gives an overview of precursor systems, their processing, and the final precursor-dependent structure of carbon fibers (CFs) including new developments in precursor systems for low-cost CFs. The following CF precursor systems are discussed: poly(acrylonitrile)-based copolymers, pitch, cellulose, lignin, poly(ethylene), and new synthetic polymeric precursors for high-end CFs. In addition, structure-property relationships and the different models for describing both the structure and morphology of CFs will be presented.