Effects of burn-off on thermal shock resistances of nuclear carbon materials

Abstract The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of burn-off on thermal shock resistances and thermal shock fracture toughnesses of a carbon fiber reinforced carbon composite (C/C composite) and three fine-grained isotropic graphites. These thermal shock resistances and thermal shock fracture toughnesses were degraded slightly by air oxidation at 500 °C. The extents of degradations of the thermal shock parameters were less than those of the mechanical and fracture mechanics properties, however, they were larger than that of the thermal diffusivity. In observations of the microstructures of the fracture surfaces after oxidation of the graphites, the size and the number of pores were increased and the fracture surfaces were rough due to oxidation of boundaries of graphite particles. After oxidation of the C/C composite, there were preferential removal of the boundary layer between carbon fiber and pyrolytic carbon matrix and pull out of carbon fiber.