Improvement of water/resin wettability of graphite using carbon black nano particles coating via ink media

Carbon coated graphite with high resin and water wettability characteristics could expand the refractory and carbon–carbon composites application in different fields. Improvement of water and resin wettability of graphite using carbon black coating via ink media is reported. Present method is based on preparing colloidal disperion of carbon black in ink followed by adding proper amount of graphite to the mixture which was dried and heat treated at 250 °C afterwards. The results showed that by controlling the amount of carbon black in ink and optimizing the process, a uniform coating with a thickness of 50 nm could be developed on the graphite surface.The wettability was evaluated by measuring contact angle and the microstructure of samples was characterized by optic microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Also Raman spectroscopy was employed to support the results. The microstructure of coating was found to be uniform composed of carbon black nanoparticles. It was also demonstrated that the coating that could enhance the phenolic resin wettability was well. We also showed the coating could be applied on other ceramic particles such as MgO.