Carbon fibres from cellulosic precursors: a review Ahu Gu¨ mrah Dumanlı • Alan H. Windle Received: 3 August 2011 / Accepted: 22 October 2011 / Published online: 23 February 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 Abstract The focus of this review is primarily on the sequence of structural changes at micro and molecular level during carbonization of cellulosic fibres. The influ- ence of various operational parameters such as the pyro- lytic temperature and the stabilization agents also discussed as is the effect of the initial properties of the cellulose fibre on the final properties of the carbon fibre. Abbreviations AC Alternative current ACF Activated carbon fibre BC Bacterial cellulose 13 C NMR Carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy CF Carbon fibre CNT Carbon nanotube CP/MAS Cross polarized magic angle spinning CSA Chemical shift anisotropy DC Direct current DP Degree of polymerization FTIR Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy HTT Heat treatment temperature MWNT Multi wall carbon nanotube N/tex Tensile strength unit expressed in force divided by linear density which is numerically equivalent to Gpa/specific gravity NMMO N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide PAN Polyacrylonitrile SEM Scanning electron microscope STM Scanning tunneling microscopy SWNT Single wall carbon nanotube tex Linear density unit which is equal to the grams per kilometre of material TGA Thermal gravimetric analysis XRD X-ray diffraction Introduction The exceptional mechanical properties and low density of carbon fibre make it an attractive material for a number of advanced and high-volume applications. The most practical method of producing carbon fibres is carbonization of organic fibres with, today, the majority of carbon fibres being produced from a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor because of their good mechanical properties and high yield. Other viable precursors are cellulosic fibres and mesophase pitch. Cellulosic precursor fibre was first used by Thomas Edison in the 1880s as the basis for his revolutionary electric lamp filament [1]. Much later, in 1959, the National Carbon Company introduced a carbon cloth from a rayon precursor in 1959 and 2 years later carbon yarn was became available [2, 3]. In 1965, the Thornel range of carbon fibres was announced where properties were improved by a post-carbonization treatment involving stretching at 2500 °C. This fibre had a tensile strength of 1.25 GPa and a Young’s modulus of 170 GPa [4]. How- ever, due to the cost of the hot stretching process and the disadvantage of the yield and mechanical properties of the cellulose precursor [5] the production of these fibres had stopped lasted little more than 10 years [6]. Since then carbon fibres based on PAN have been the market leader. A. G. Dumanlı Á A. H. Windle (&) Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK e-mail: agd33@cam.ac.uk 123 J Mater Sci (2012) 47:4236–4250 DOI 10.1007/s10853-011-6081-8