Fiber and a process for the manufacture thereof

A method for manufacturing a highly oriented intermediate carbon fiber, comprising the following steps:

• a. providing cellulose and/or a cellulose derivative,
• b. providing lignin and/or a lignin derivative,
• c. dissolution of the cellulose and/or cellulose derivative and the lignin and/or lignin derivative followed by subsequent mixing thus providing a dope,
• d. performing a solution spinning of the dope to a precursor material,
• e. performing a stabilization on the precursor material at a temperature from about 100 to about 450° C. at a residence time of from 10 to 180 minutes, thus providing a thermally stabilized, non-sticky and stretchable fiber, and
• f. performing a stretch-pre-carbonization, including stretching and pre-carbonization, on the thermally stabilized, non-sticky and stretchable fiber at temperatures from about 200 to about 1300° C., thus providing a highly oriented intermediate carbon fiber,
• wherein said stretching is carried out at elongations between 25% and 1000%.