Carbon Fibre Composite Molecular

Bogoeva G, Mader E, Elaussler L, Dekanski A, Characteristics of the surface and interphase of plasma treated EIM carbon fibres. Composites Part A—Appl Sci Manuf, 28(5), 445 52, 1997. Kettle AP, Beck AJ, O Toole L, Jones FR, Short RD, Plasma polymerization for molecular engineering of carbon fibre surfaces for optimized composites, Composites Sci Technol, 57(8), 1023-1032, 1997. 

Activated charcoal was originally regarded as a relatively inexpensive adsorbent with an assortment of pores of ill-defined size and shape. However, in recent years considerable progress has been made in the development of tailor-made porous carbons such as molecular sieves, activated carbon fibres and carbon composites (Marsh et al., 1997). Superactive carbons are now made on a commercial scale with BET areas of around 3000 m2g-1. Activated carbons can be manufactured as fine particles or granules or in the form of a cloth, felt or consolidated membrane. The properties of some of these special types of activated carbon are discussed in Chapter 12. 

The basic properties of polymers may be enhanced by physical as well as chemical means. An important example is the use of finely divided carbon black as a filler in rubber compounds. Polymers may be combined with stiffer filaments, such as glass or carbon fibres, to form a composite. We shall show later that some semicrystalline polymers may be treated as composites at a molecular level. 

As a result of their outstanding physical and mechanical properties, aromatic polyamides are attractive materials for use in high-performance structural applications 853072 833611 820253, including aircraft components or fire protection garments, as constituents of both traditional, i.e., fibre-reinforced composites 774110 762844, and molecular composites. One of these applications takes advantage of their thermal stability 881232 825031 763791 755849 and allows the manufacturing of heat-resistant materials for fire protection 713906. In a different context, aromatic polyamides (aramid fibres) have been proposed in the past few years as precursors of activated carbon materials with distinctive adsorbent properties (thermally stable molecular sieves). Aramid fibres, e.g., poly(w-phenylene isophthalamide), poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) 709654, etc., are a class of synthetic polymers that possess excellent thermal and oxidative stability, good flame resistance, and superior mechanical and dielectric behaviour. 

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