Abstract:

2D needle-punched fiber felt was infiltrated by a kind of rapid isothermal chemical vapor infiltration technique. The infiltration process and texture transition of the infiltrated C/C composites were investigated. The porosity and the variations of the cumulative pore volume were determined by mercury porosimetry. The texture of matrix carbon was studied under a polarized light microscope. The results show that the relative mass gain of the sample increases directly as the infiltration time at the initial stage until 20 h, and subsequently the increasing rate of the relative mass gain decreases gradually with the prolonging of infiltration time. Three layers of pyrocarbon were formed around fibers. Low-textured pyrocarbon was obtained at the initial stage. With the densification going on, high-textured pyrocarbon was formed on the surface of low-textured pyrocarbon. Then, low-textured pyrocarbon was produced again during the final stage of densification. The texture transition is ascribed to the variation of the ratio of cumulative inner surface area to volume of pores and the gas partial pressure in pores.

Key words: C/C composites, Isothermal chemical vapor infiltration (ICVI), Pyrocarbon, Mercury porosimetry, Polarized light microscope