Effect of heat treatment on microstructure and thermal conductivity of carbon/carbon-copper composites

Using 2.5-dimensional carbon fiber fabrics as the reinforcement, porous carbon/carbon(C/C) substrates were firstly fabricated by impregnation/carbonization (I/C) technique with furan resin and then treated at 2000, 2300 and 3000 degrees C, respectively. Finally, carbon fiber reinforced carbon and copper(C/C-Cu) composites were prepared by infiltrating melt copper alloy into C/C substrates under pressure. The effects of treating temperatures on microstructures and thermal conductivities of the composites were investigated. The results show that heat treatment plays an important role in the microstructure and thermal conductivity of C/C-Cu composites. It is conducive not only to rearrange the carbon crystallite of resin-based carbon in oriented layer structure, but also to improve the content and connectivity of copper alloy. The thermal conductivity increases with the increase in heat treatment temperature in both parallel and perpendicular direction; the thermal conductivity in parallel direction is evidently superior to that in perpendicular direction.