Evidence for the benefit of adding a carbon interphase in an all-carbon composite

T-800 polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fibres were coated with pyrolytic carbon and carbon/carbon/carbon (C/C/C) composites were prepared from them using coal tar pitch as the matrix precursor. Composites were characterised regarding pyrolysis behaviour, mechanical properties, microtexture, nanotexture, and fracture behaviour. All of the composite components, including interfacial areas, were characterised by high resolution transmission electron microscopy. It was checked that the presence of the carbon interphase did not affect the development of the matrix texture, nor deeply modified the fibre surface energetics. However, adding a pyrolytic carbon interphase resulted in improved mechanical properties for the C/C/C composites with respect to the similarly prepared but interphase-free composites (C/C), such as the increase in the flexural strength by a factor of five, and that of the flexural modulus a factor of two. It is shown that such a benefit brought by adding a carbon interphase is possible merely through the appropriate texture of the latter. Typically, the interphase has to exhibit features from both the matrix (anisotropic) and the fibres (isotropic) so that to reduce the discontinuity effect at the fibre/matrix contact, and should also exhibit features (elongated porosity) that promote multiple micro-cracking from the primary cracks, so that to somewhat absorb part of the fracture energy.