Recent Developments in Carbon Fibers and Carbon Nanotube-Based Fibers: A Review

ABSTRACTCarbon fibers are a very vast topic to discuss in a limited space such as this review paper. Nevertheless, we herein attempt to provide a succinct summary of current research in carbon fibers (CF), especially carbon nanotube (CNT) based CFs. A brief introduction to CFs with respect to precursors, characterization techniques, and applications is presented. Following discussion on different commercially used CF precursors, is a description of the latest new precursors being researched. While finding new low-cost precursors has been a focus of recent research, large scale production of CFs from these new materials is not being realized at the present time. CNTs have received a great deal of attention due to their unique structure and properties. So CNTs and CNT-based CFs or carbon yarns (CYs) are discussed. In addition to providing a brief overview of different methods of providing CNTs, physical and electronic properties of CNTs are discussed. The major focus of this review is CNT based composite fi...