The orientation of mesophase pitch during fully developed channel flow Original Research Article

Mesophase pitch-based carbon fibers are ideally suited for applications where the rapid dissipation of heat is important (structural composites, printed circuit substrates, etc.). However, control of texture is essential in order to optimize fiber properties, especially thermal conductivity. Because ribbon-shaped mesophase pitch-based carbon fibers possess a highly linear texture, these fibers are very promising for high thermal conductivity applications. The observed texture of these ribbon-shaped fibers and the radial texture commonly observed in circular fibers can be predicted from liquid-crystal flow theory, where the precursor molecules are modeled as rigid disks.