Effect of boric acid coating on the electrical, thermal, mechanical and oxidation-resistant properties of coke derived carbon foam

In this study, carbon foams with high oxidative resistance were fabricated by employing a powder metallurgy route using semi-coke as a carbon precursor and ammonium bicarbonate as a pore-forming agent. The boric acid was used as an oxidative inhibitor. The effect of boric acid coating on the surface of carbon foam was extensively analyzed and compared with pure carbon foam. The oxidation resistance of boric acid-coated carbon foam (CF70BA) demonstrated very good thermal stability at 650 degrees C in the air for a period of 3 h, along with good compressive strength as compared to pure carbon foam. The resultant boric acid-coated carbon foam exhibit a high electrical conductivity of 437 S/cm and high thermal conductivity of 9.5 W/m.K. All the results revealed that this approach established a new simple and affordable concept for the development of lightweight carbon material with high oxidation resistance performance.