Chemistry and kinetics of chemical vapour deposition of pyrocarbon: I. Fundamentals of kinetics and chemical reaction engineering

Abstract

Open scientific problems of chemical vapour deposition of pyrocarbon are discussed on the basis of brief historical and literature reviews. Some thermodynamic considerations are followed by detailed analyses of reaction pathways in hydrocarbon pyrolysis. Reaction schemes are derived, and corresponding differential equations have been solved to show the influence of (i) initial partial pressure of the hydrocarbon and (ii) residence time on the rate of pyrocarbon deposition in general as well as carbon deposition profiles along the reactor axis. Finally, some suggestions are presented for model-based analyses of pyrocarbon deposition. In the following parts of this paper, these fundamentals will be applied for an as good as possible analysis and simulation of pyrocarbon deposition kinetics. It will be the goal to correlate pyrocarbon structures not with the deposition conditions, but with the dominating growth species.