Fabrication and Characterization of Pyrolyzed Phenolic/Carbon Nanocomposite Reinforced by Metal Oxide Nanoparticles

Carbon fiber composite is one of the most important materials in aerospace engineering applications. For fabrication of this composite, optimum polymerization and carbonization cycles of phenolic resin were obtained [1]. Then, carbon/phenolic composite was fabricated by mixing different weight percentages of T700 carbon fiber with phenolic resin, and the flexural strength of specimens was examined. The samples were pyrolyzed at 1100°C to form high temperature phenolic matrix. Because of high porosity of samples, the composite was impregnated to increase the density and reduce porosity. The maximum flexural strength of samples was obtained with 40 wt. % of fiber. With addition of TiO2 and ZrO2 nanoparticles to carbon/phenolic composite, thermal and mechanical improvement was measured. The samples were examined by ablation test and microstructures of composites were analyzed by SEM.