Ablation and Mechanical Characterization of Carbon-Phenolic Nano Composites

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the ablation, mechanical properties of carbon-phenolic/Zirconia (Zr) based nanocomposites. The multi walled carbon nano tubes (CNT) tubes and Graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) fillers were synthesis with Zr using Sol-gel process. Composite samples with varying the nano-fillers loading (0.05 wt.% to 0.1 wt.%) were prepared by hand-layup method. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), flexural tests, and oxyacetylene-torch tests. The addition of nano filers has significantly improved the flexural strength of nano-composites compare to pure carbon-phenolic composite. The linear and mass ablation rates of nano-composites decreased by about 71 % and 38 %, respectively when CNT based nano composite was added in pure carbon-phenolic composite. The GNP-based nano composites showed similar improvement in ablation properties. The post-ablation test samples were characterized for surface morphology under SEM. It was shown that the ZrC formed a strong protective char layer on the composite surface which was responsible for thermal insulation