A Prototype Apparatus for Determining Changes in the Electrical Conductivity of Production Run Carbon Fibers

During the production and processing of continuous lengths of carbon fibers (a tow), the conductivity along the length of the tow may vary significantly depending on the variation of the heat treatment temperature (HTT) and the resident furnace time. For PAN-type (polyacrylonitrile) fibers at HTT greater than 1000°C, a small change in HTT results in a large change in conductivity 03C3. For lower values of HTT, the corresponding change in σ can be quite small [1]