Room-temperature TBC process for carbon fiber-reinforced composite materials

Abstract

Thermal barrier coating(TBC) is a technology that can extend the operating life of materials used at high temperatures. However, the materials that can be applied for the TBC process are limited because most TBC processes performed above 300 oC. Carbon fiber reinforced plastic(CFRP) is used in various fields due to its high strength-to-weight ratio, but it is difficult to apply the TBC method because of low thermal stability [2]. To overcome this limitation, this study introduces a new TBC process performed at room temperatures. TBC/CFRP composite was fabricated using a vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding(VARTM) with carbon fabrics and TBC layer composed of Al2O3 particles and a ceramic binder. When the TBC layer of TBC/CFRP composite was subjected to a 500 oC -700 oC flame, the CFRP substrate surface temperature was 188 oC -228 oC, which shows that the TBC layer protects CFRP substrate in high temperature environment. Through this study, it was shown that the new TBC process is possible for materials with low thermal stability.