Method for Stabilizing Carbon-Containing Fibre and Method for Producing Carbon Fibre

Abstract

The group of inventions pertains to the field of producing high-strength carbon fibres, which can be primarily manufactured from an organic starting material (precursor). A method for stabilizing a carbon-containing fibre (precursor) is claimed, in which the fibre is placed into a gaseous medium and subjected to treatment with microwave radiation as the gaseous medium is heated. More specifically, the fibre is placed into a working chamber filled with a gaseous medium, the latter is heated by heating the chamber (for example, the walls thereof) while the fibre is treated with microwave radiation. According to a second aspect of the invention, a method for producing a carbon fibre is claimed, comprising, as a minimum, fibre stabilizing and carbonizing stages, in which the precursor is stabilized by means of the above-described method by subjecting the fibre to microwave radiation as the medium in which the fibre is immersed is heated. After the fibre has been carbonized, it is possible, as an alternative, for said fibre to be additionally coated with graphite. If necessary, the stabilized fibre can also be carbonized and/or coated with graphite by the complex treatment thereof with microwave radiation as the medium in which the fibre has been placed for carbonizing/coating with graphite is heated. As a result, the time taken to stabilize the precursor fibres is reduced, thereby affording a reduction in the energy consumption and an increase in the productivity of the process for producing carbon fibre.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.