Research Progress on Preparation of Spinnable Mesophase Pitch

High-performance pitch-based carbon fiber has incomparable advantages in terms of high modulus, high thermal conductivity, high electrical conductivity and low thermal expansion coefficient, which makes it an ideal material for aerospace, high-end manufacturing and thermal management. China engages in the research and development of high-performance pitch-based carbon fiber very early, but fails to achieve fast industrialization. At present, the mass production technology for spinnable mesophase pitch, a key raw material of high-performance pitch-based carbon fiber, has not yet achieved a breakthrough, which seriously restricts the development of related industries in China. This paper systematically summarizes the research and development progress of spinnable mesophase pitch in the past 60 years, as well as the key properties of spinnable mesophase pitch and the correlation between them, and then analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of classical preparation technologies for spinnable mesophase pitch such as thermal condensation polymerization, cocarbonization, catalytic condensation polymerization, synthetic cross-linking and additive modification. The technological process of thermal condensation polymerization is relatively simple, but the pitch performance is prone to be affected by the fluctuation of raw material compositions. The mesophase pitch prepared by catalytic condensation polymerization has stable and excellent performance, but there exist some safety and environmental risks in the technological process. In view of the industrial bottleneck problems, several suggestions and prospects were proposed. Related institutions should strengthen the development of catalytic condensation polymerization, the research on the structure-activity relationship of mesophase pitch, and the optimization and stabilization of raw material compositions. © 2023 Science Press. All rights reserved.