Chemical vapour infiltration and mechanical properties of carbon open-cell foams

Compressive crushing tests were conducted to determine the influence of the pore size, the pyrocarbon type and the relative density on the mechanical properties of the pyrocarbon-infiltrated foams. They retain their non-brittle and dissipating behaviour up to relative densities of 0.15. The stiffness, crushing strength and dissipated energy increase significantly with the relative density. The crushing behaviour of the pyrocarbon-foam specimens can be essentially explained using simple structural models and failure mechanisms, according to the Gibson & Ashby's approach for brittle cellular solids.