| abstract |
A nonwoven fabric which contains pitch-based carbon fibers having a high elongation and a high elastic modulus which are not attained in the prior art and is obtained by improving the tensile elongation which was defect of carbon fibers derived from mesophase pitch, a felt obtained from the nonwoven fabric, and production processes therefor. n The nonwoven fabric contains pitch-based carbon fibers, wherein the pitch-based carbon fibers have (i) an average fiber diameter (D1) measured by an optical microscope of more than 2 µm and 20 µm or less, (ii) a percentage of the degree of fiber diameter distribution (S1) to average fiber diameter (D1) measured by an optical microscope of 3 to 20 %, (iii) a tensile elastic modulus of 80 to 300 GPa and (iv) a tensile elongation of 1.4 to 2.5 %. |