Preparation and Mechanism of Interconnected Mesoporous Carbon Monoliths from Phenolic Resin/Ethylene Glycol Mixtures

Abstract:

The preparation of interconnected mesoporous carbon monoliths (MCMs) derived from phenolic resin/ethylene glycol mixtures based on polymerization-induced phase separation have been investigated for fabrication of complex-shape SiC ceramics. The effect of the ethylene glycol content, curing catalyst and the curing temperature on the pore structure and pore distribution of carbon monoliths has also been studied, with emphasis on controlling the apparent porosity and pore size distribution. Fractal dimensions (DF) was proposed to evaluate the morphologies of carbon monoliths by using the box counting method. The results show that interconnected mesoporous carbon monoliths with narrow pore size distribution were obtained by changing the curing temperature and the content of ethylene glycol, curing catalyst in the resin mixtures and its mechanism was discussed in this paper. In this paper, interconnected mesoporous structure was attributed to the mechanism of spinodal decomposition (SD), which was discussed in detail. Carbon monoliths inherit their porosity from cured resins where it was formed as a result of phase separation of resin-rich and glycol- rich phases.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volumes 512-515)
• Pages: 403-406
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.512-515.403
• Online since: June 2012
• Authors: Gang Zhang, Ze Wen Xiao, Guan Jun Qiao
• Keywords: Carbon Monolith, Complex-Shape, Phase Separation, Silicon Carbide (SiC)

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