Liquid Crystal Orientation on Carbon Fibers

The orientation of 4-methoxybenzylidene-4′-n-butylaniline (MBBA) on four different carbon fibers has been investigated by X-ray diffraction. The diffraction patterns show that the MBBA liquid crystal is oriented in the direction of the fiber for all of the fibers studied. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the fiber surfaces reveals grooves along the fiber axis which may cause orientation of the MBBA. The degree of MBBA orientation seems independent of the size and parallelism of the grooves. These results suggest that the preparation of composites with oriented polymer matrices is possible by using liquid crystalline monomers.