A review of the structural factors which control compression in carbon fibres and their composites

Carbon fibres and their composites are well known for their excellent tensile properties and light weight characteristics which, amongst other advantages continues to drive demand from new structural applications across a wide range of weight sensitive industries. However, since their inception, their inferior performance under compression loading has remained a major impediment to even wider usage. In this review, a systematic discussion highlights the reasons for this deficiency from a microstructural and macroscale perspective and provides suggestions on how to improve the compressive properties for both carbon fibre and carbon fibre composites. In this work, structure-property, property-property and defect-property correlations from fibre to composite are developed from an analysis of the literature and other available technical information. This review covers the most important issues that require addressing by carbon fibre and composite manufacturers if new applications are to emerge in industries where not only tensile strength or stiffness to weight matters, but so too does compression.