Highly densified carbon nanotube reinforced polymer derived ceramics

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Michael J. Hoffmann; Professor Dr. Michael Scheffler
• Subject Area: Glass, Ceramics and Derived Composites ; Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials ; Mechanical Properties of Metallic Materials and their Microstructural Origins
• Term: from 2014 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 268257930

Goal of this project is to extend the concept of polymer derived ceramics, PDCs, by the reinforcement with carbon nanotubes, CNTs. In a novel approach the CNTs will be formed during the release of hydrocarbons from the starting preceramic polymer in the absence of an explosive hydrocarbon atmosphere; processing will be carried out in argon. The formation of the PDCs will be carried out in two steps: in the first step a preceramic polymer will be pyrolyzed in the presence of a transition metal catalyst, which converts the releasing hydrocarbons into CNTs. In the second step, the resulting material will be sintered with field-assisted sintering technology (FAST). In order to understand the context of the process parmeters of the sub-processes, the microstructure and the resulting material properties, characterization of the microstructure, the mechanical properties and the functional properties (electric onductivity, heat conductivity) of these novel-type materials will be characterized, and function principals will be derived from th eresults.From the correlation between the CNT content and the resulting reinforcement a basic understanding of the influence of the state of the PDC matrix (amorphous or crystalline) on the sintering behavior and on the reinforcement effect will be developed, and a transfer to other material systems should be possible. Moreover, a ceramic material will be available having a high fracture toughness. The processing of this novel-type ceramic material might be realized in easy-to- control processing steps, and the material properties may be varied in a wide range by the processing parameters and by the addition of particulate fillers.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants