Fabrication and structure: a study of aligned carbon nanotube/carbon nanocomposites

Aligned carbon nanotube/carbon (Acnt/C) nanocomposites have been fabricated by densifying an Acnt preform with chemical vapour infiltration technology. Microstructure observations show that pyrocarbon in Acnt/C was mainly rough lamella type while pyrocarbon in carbon fiber reinforced carbon matrix (C/C) composites was typically smooth lamella type in spite of the same process. The thermal conductivity of these Acnt/C nanocomposites is about 4 times that of C/C composites. Their electrical conductivity of Acnt/C nanocomposites was anisotropic, i.e. approximately 1.61×104 Ω−1 m−1 and 5.68×103 Ω−1 m−1 in the direction parallel and vertical to the aligned carbon nanotubes, respectively.