The preparation and performance of short carbon fiber reinforced adhesive for bonding carbon/carbon composites

A short carbon fiber reinforced adhesive for bonding carbon/carbon composites was developed. We found that when the thickness of the bonding layer was 80 μm, the concentration of short carbon fiber was 0.2 wt.%, and the heat-treatment temperature was 1000 °C, the adhesive could operate below 1700 °C and endure 20 times of thermal shock circles at 1500 °C. Finite element and micrograph analysis indicated that the bonding strength was larger than the interlaminar shear strength of carbon/carbon substrate, so that the fracture did not occur in the bonding layer but the carbon/carbon substrate. Weibull distribution analysis results showed that the Weibull modulus was 21.56 and the bonding strength was 11.43 MPa. We investigated that short carbon fiber could advance the tensile strength and thermal shock resistance of the adhesive, release residual stress and inhibit extension of micro-crack in the bonding layer.