The thermal conductivity of ribbon-shaped carbon fibers

The thermal conductivity of ribbon-shaped fibers produced at Clemson University and graphitized at 2400 degrees C and of commercial round fibers graphitized at temperatures above 3000 degrees C were measured by two different methods. One instrument, located at BP Amoco in Alpharetta, GA, measures a fiber sample's thermal response to an oscillating heat input. This device was used to measure room-temperature thermal conductivity of the fibers. A second apparatus, located at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium, measures a fiber sample's thermal response to a controlled thermal gradient. This device was used to measure the temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity of selected fiber sets. The results will be presented and the accuracy of the two methods compared. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.