Preparation and characterization of carbon felt/carbon composites by chemical vapor infiltration process

The current study was intended to synthesize and characterize the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites using the chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) process. To that end, carbon fiber felt (CF) was used as a preform, and methane and hydrogen were employed as reactive and carrier gases, respectively. After deciding on the optimum temperature (1050 °C), the composite samples were produced at different times (0–195 h). Then the samples were studied for their phase and microstructure characteristics using XRD, SEM, FESEM, FTIR, and Raman spectroscope. The results showed that by increasing the CVI process time up to 195 h, the density of the produced samples increased from 0.20 to 1.62 g/cm 3 , and the specific surface area decreased from 58.78 to 0.23 m 2 /g. Also, by increasing the process duration, the deposition rate decreased due to the reduction of the available surface for carbon deposition. In other words, due to the increase in density, and decrease in both porosity and specific surface area, the thermal conductivity coefficient and the bending strength of the samples increased. The composite specimens' SEM images of the fracture surface indicated a weak interface between the carbon fibers and the carbon layer developed by the CVI process. The structural analyses showed that the morphology of carbon growth during the CVI process was initially laminar, but changed to rough-laminar (RL) with the higher duration of the CVI process.