Wetting of Carbon Fibers by Coal-Tar Pitch Melts

Abstract

Wetting of carbon fibers by model liquids (water and octane) and melts of pure coal-tar pitch and that with myristic acid added as a surfactant was studied by the Wilhelmy method. It was shown that the contact angles of the carbon fibers by the pitch that were calculated using wetting data for the model liquids agreed with the directly measured values. Addition of myristic acid equalized the polar and dispersive components of the pitch-melt surface free energy and improved the wettability.