If there were they would be used industrially because the cost of making RCC is still very expensive and the aircraft industry would like to reduce the manufacturing cost by an order of magnitude or more. When the first RCC materials were produced, the cost was about $10,000 per cubic inch! The costs have come down a lot today but there are still no shortcuts to making RCC. The RCC manufacturing process is described in detail in the reference I provided in my previous post. It can be infused with a carbonizing gas to further increase the density. The part is then cooled and reinfused with phenolic resin under pressure and reheated to pyrolyze the additional phenolic. The traditional way of making RCC is to infuse a phenolic resin into a woven carbon weave preform, and then bring it to a very high temperature in a vacuum furnace or inert atmosphere furnace to pyrolyze the phenolic into graphite. The Cotronics carbon adhesive is for sticking graphite bricks together to prevent convective losses in a furnace. To learn more about GrafTech, please visit įollow the links above to find out how commercial high temperature materials are manufactured. but will continue to operate as Fiber Materials Inc. became a wholly owned subsidiary of GrafTech International, a publicly held company that is headquartered in Parma, Ohio. In 1972, all operations were moved to a manufacturing and testing complex located in Biddeford, Maine. Along with these advances, FMI manufactures felt and rigid carbonaceous insulation materials and Commercial Carbon Composites, a strong, lightweight and durable carbon matrix used in many commercial applications. FMI developed reinforced composites used in strategic missile systems and space reentry vehicle applications. continues to progress as a corporation by researching, manufacturing and distributing advanced composite and high temperature materials for the defense, aerospace and commercial markets. Started in 1969 by an innovative and resourceful engineer, Fiber Materials, Inc. FMI has been doing so for more than 40 years, and also offers quartz based fiber and fabrics, ablative coatings, and an independent Energy Materials Testing Laboratory. is an industry leading company producing high temperature materials, advanced composites, carbon and graphite insulation and carbon/carbon composite products. Sorry to burst your bubble but making RCC or any advanced composite ceramics at home is not a possibility. Carbon fibers and metal oxide pastes have been used to make ceramics and while another Cotronics adhesive for carbon furnaces is actually carbon, any alloying materials must be brought up to well over 2500 C, usually under pressure, for processing. Indeed the ultra high temperature adhesive suggested is actually ZrO2 (Zirconium Oxide, a ceramic). Taking graphite powder, chopped carbon fibers, and an ultra high temp adhesive and mix them together will not make RCC. It is also used for commercial and military jet aircraft and race car brake rotors. Real RCC was used as the nose and leading edge tiles on the space shuttle, as well as some rocket nozzles, and RCC is difficult and very expensive to make. It is indeed very strong and heat resistant, but it is more like a ceramic than a composite, but much less brittle than most ceramics. Reinforced Carbon-Carbon is not simply graphite strengthened with carbon fibers. This could also be used as the leading edge of fins and nosecones for high performance rockets. I'm planning on making rocket nozzles, and carbon-carbon is one of the best materials. ( ) So the question is, would this work? I believe so. As a bonus, you could use something similar to Lamborghini's 'forged composite' process where they press, what looks like, chopped carbon fibers and epoxy into shapes using high pressure and temperature. uh oh)This should give higher temperature performance than steel, but still at least 1000 deg less than pure graphite. So the idea is, you take graphite, chopped carbon fibers, and an ultra high temp adhesive and mix them together. Naturally, I wondered if I could make it myself. C-C composites are very difficult to make and expensive. They were used as the nose cone and leading edges of the space shuttle, as well as some rocket nozzles. Some background: Carbon-Carbon composites are essentailly graphite strengthed with carbon fibers.
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