Catalytic effects on carbon/carbon composites fabricated by a film boiling chemical vapor infiltration process

Chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) has been widely studied under several conditions to obtain C/C composites. A “film boiling technique” (so-called Kalamazoo), by the use of liquid precursor, based on thermal gradient CVI has been recently developed as one of the very effective techniques to increase the carbon yield and the densification rate. A small cold wall type laboratory reactor has been realized to analyze the kinetics of reactions and the deposited pyrocarbon matrix. In this study, ferrocene, as the source of catalyst, is mixed to the liquid precursor to induce a catalytic effect on the film boiling technique since the transition metals are known to increase the carbon deposition rate. In addition to an important increase of the densification rate, it is revealed that the deposition mechanism and microtextures are completely modified by the presence of catalyst, with the presence of multiwall nanotubes within the matrix. A model has been adapted from Allendorff and Hunt's work to interpret this peculiar deposition mechanism.