Thermal management of carbon-carbon composites by functionally graded fiber arrangement technique

Next to mechanical properties, the most important characteristics of a carbon-carbon composite(C/C) are thermal conduction and thermal expansion. In this paper, several investigations have been made into carbon fiber arrangement relationships for different carbon-carbon composite materials. Pitch-derived carbon matrix-carbon fiber composites have been used, processed by means of the hot isostatic pressing (HIP) technique for converting pitch into a dry carbon fiber preform. Repeated HIP cycles are required to build the composite matrix up to an acceptably high density/low porosity for deployment in severely ablative environments. The effects of heat treatment temperatures on thermal conductivity, thermal conductivity at high temperatures and thermal expansion behavior have been studied. At room temperature, the value of thermal conductivity for unidirectional (UD) carbon-carbon composites is 700 W/m · K. In the case of three-dimensional (3D) carbon-carbon composites, this value is determined by the volume of the fiber arrangements. On the other hand, the thermal expansion of carbon-carbon composites in the fiber axial direction is chiefly governed by the thermal expansion of the fiber. On the basis of this fundamental research, a functional graded fiber arrangement technique has been proposed which presents the opportunity to ‘tailor’ thermophysical properties into carbon materials.