The structure of pyrolytic carbon deposited in a fluidized bed

Abstract

A variety of pyrolytic-carbon structures deposited in fluidized beds have been categorized according to their structure. For a given coater configuration and flow rate, the structure of the deposits was found to vary systematically with bed temperature, gas composition, and bed surface area. The structures were divided into three groups according to their structure, i.e., laminar, isotropic, or granular. The structural data, together with kinetic measurements and published results on related processes, suggest that the low-temperature laminar structures are built up from large planar molecules that form in the gas phase, dehydrogenate, and, when deposited, align themselves parallel to each other and to the substrate. The isotropic low-density structures are formed at conditions where general gas-phase nucleation of droplets and soot occurs in the bed. The high-density granular structures form when there is orderly crystal growth over relatively large distances.