E.i. Dupont De Nemours and Company

US Government As Represented by the Secretary of the Army

Dennis M Riggs

Hugh E Redick

Edward L Harvey

A spinnerette for mesophase pitch includes a spinnerette body with a plurality of mesophase pitch fiber forming channels through it. Each bore includes a capillary bore section at the outlet side of the spinnerette body, a wider diameter counter bore at the inlet side and an entrance between the wider bore and capillary bore sections with the entrance wall defining a relatively flat angle for increasing the proportion of tangential cross-section pitch fibers, as compared with radial cross-section fibers.

Process for adjusting the fiber structure of mesophase pitch fibers

This invention features an improved spinning process for pitch-based carbon fibers, that will provide a continuous pitch-based carbon fiber having a uniform pattern of graphite crystallites over a substantial portion of the fiber cross-section and/or aligned along the fiber axis in the form of undulating ribbons. Continuous carbon fibers having the preferred orientation of graphite crystallites will exhibit greater mechanical properties.

Process of spinning pitch-based carbon fibers

Bulk pieces of graphite bonded with a graphitizable binder comprising a lid crystalline component of pitch, which softens at about 240.degree. C. and becomes very fluid at about 300.degree. C. to about 500.degree. C. The bonded graphite pieces appear as a monolithic material even under 1000.times. magnification. The bonding is effected under vacuum or in an inert atmosphere at temperatures of from about 700.degree. C. to about 3000.degree. C., usually about 1000.degree. C. to about 1500.degree. C., under pressure of from about 20 psi to about 1000 psi applied in a direction normal to the bonding surface.

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Simpsonville, SC, United States of America

Dennis M Riggs