Sugar-derived Nanocrystalline Graphite Matrix C/C Composites With Excellent Ablative Resistance At 3000 ˚c.

Sugars are renewable resources essential to human life, but they are rarely used as raw materials for the industrial production of carbon-based materials, especially for the preparation of carbon fibre-reinforced carbon-matrix (C/C) composites, which are extremely useful for the semiconductor and aerospace sectors. Herein, we report a method utilizing sugar-derived carbon to replace petrochemicals as dense matrix to preparing C/C composites. The matrix from sugar-derived C/C (S-C/C) composites has a nanocrystalline graphite structure that is highly thermally stable and effectively bonded to the carbon fibres. The mechanical properties of the S-C/C composite are comparable to those prepared from petrochemical sources; significantly, it exhibits a linear ablation rate of 0.03 mm s -1 after 200 s of ablation at 3000°C in 10 MW m -2 heat flux. This new class of S-C/C is promising for use in a broad range of fields, ranging from semiconductor to aerospace. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.