Graphitic open-celled carbon foams: processing and characterization

摘要

Carbon fiber-reinforced composites [1,2] have existed for many years. They represent an attempt to incorporate the exceptional mechanical properties of fiber into a polymer, metal, ceramic, carbon char or pitch matrix. The fibers act as the major load-bearing elements and the matrix serves to transfer load to the disconnected fiber network. However, there are two important drawbacks in carbon fiber-reinforced composite technology, namely, the complexity of the fabrication process and the limiting properties of the matrix elements. The main hypothesis of this research program is that a new generation of composite materials, with interconnected graphitic reinforcing ligaments, offers a simplified processing alternative to the conventional carbon-fiber reinforced composite technology.