Carbon fibers are prepared by stabilizing pitch fibers accompanying electron beam (E-beam)
irradiation. The carbon fibers pretreated by E-beam irradiation achieve a higher stabilization
index than the carbon fibers that are only heat-stabilized. In addition, the carbon fibers
subjected to E-beam irradiation in the stabilization step exhibit a comparable tensile strength
to that of general purpose carbon fibers. The carbon fibers pretreated with an absorbed dose
of 3000 kGy have a tensile strength of 0.54 GPa for a similar fiber diameter. Elemental,
Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analyses indicate that Ebeam
irradiation is an efficient oxidation and dehydrogenation treatment for pitch fibers by
showing that the intensity of the aliphatic C?H stretching and aromatic CH2 ben