Characterization of the major reactions during conversion of lignin to carbon fiber

Lightweight design is an essential part of the overall Volkswagen strategy for reducing the CO2 emissions. The use of carbon fiber offers an enormous lightweight potential. In comparison to steel enabling a mass reduction of up to 70% in automotive parts without a degradation of the functionalities is possible. Today, the use of carbon fiber is limited in mass series applications of the automotive industry by the cost of the conventional C-fiber precursor polyacrylonitrile (PAN). 50% of the cost of a conventional carbon fiber already belongs to the cost of the PAN precursor. Lignin as a precursor for carbon fiber production can realize enormous savings in cost. For qualifying lignin-based carbon fiber for automotive mass production a detailed characterization of this new material is necessary. Therefore, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy are used. Using the results of these experiments, the major reactions during conversion of lignin to carbon fiber are proposed.