Effect of Process Parameter of Chemical Vapour Infiltration (CVI) Process on the Rate of Pyrocarbon (PyC) Deposition
摘要
Chemical vapor infiltration is widely used for C/C composite product realization. The key issue of the CVI process is that it is slow and process parameter sensitive. The Pyrocarbon (PyC) deposition rate depends on the process parameters used to carry out this process. Thus, the time and cost of realizing a C/C product depends mainly on the process parameters. An optimized CVI process parameter is required to achieve a high rate of PyC deposition; as a result, a cost-effective C/C composite product is realized. This study performs experiments at various combinations of CVI process parameters. The rate of PyC depositions was analyzed. Taguchi orthogonal design of the experiment is used to design a set of experiments to carry out experiments efficiently. PyC was deposited on porous carbon fiber preform on each experimental condition using methane gas as a carbon precursor and nitrogen as a carrier gas. The rate of PyC deposition was compared for each experimental condition with changes in process parameters such as temperature, pressure, methane gas flow rate, and nitrogen gas flow rate. It was found that these process parameters significantly impact the rate of PyC deposition. The experimental results have revealed that PyC deposition at high temperatures, high pressure, high methane gas flow rate, and low nitrogen gas flow rate results in the highest rate of PyC deposition. Through the experimental studies, a process guideline is proposed for processing C/C products through the CVI process for commercial and strategic application.