Rapid and low-cost carbon/carbon composites by using graphite slurry impregnated prepregs

A rapid and low-cost carbon/carbon (C/C) composites preparation method is proposed: graphite prepreg-coated carbon fiber fabric (CFF) is formed by hot pressing, followed by hot isostatic pressing and high temperature graphitization, to prepare C/C composite with low porosity and high crystallinity. In this method, the carbon fiber (CF) mass fraction can be precisely regulated in the range of 40–95% by the impregnation process conditions of CFF in graphite prepreg. The graphite particles in the preform were graphitized and bonded with CFF by high temperature graphitization. Finally, a ZrO2 anti-ablative layer was applied using sol-gel method. The results show that when the CF mass fraction is 50%, the C/C composite with a crystallinity of 92.21 and a porosity of 3.47% can be obtained, with mass ablation rate of 0.23 mg/s and density of 1.62 g/m3. The method can prepare C/C composites with uniform density and high ablation resistance.