ABSTRACT

Since the final carbon fibers contain almost I 00% carbon, any fibrous material with carbon back-bone could be used as precursor which would yield carbonaceous residue upon heat treatment. Many naturally occurring materials such as cotton, jute, linen, ramie, sisal and man made polymers like polyester, polyamides, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl alcohol phenolic resins, syndiotactic I ,2 polybutadiene, polythene, etc. have been tried as possible precursors for carbon fiber manufacture.