Carbonization with Misfusion: Fundamental Limits of Carbon-Fiber Strength Revisited

N Gupta and VI Artyukhov and ES Penev and BI Yakobson, ADVANCED MATERIALS, 28, 10317-10322 (2016).

DOI: 10.1002/adma.201603009

D-loops, a new type of structural defect in carbon fibers, are presented, which have highly detrimental effect on their mechanical properties and can define a new fundamental upper limit to their strength. These defects form exclusively during polyacrylonitrile carbonization, act as stress concentrators in the graphitic basal plane, and cannot be removed by local annealing.

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