VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

JNANA SANGAMA, BELGAUM-590018

TECHINICAL SEMINAR REPORT

CARBON FOAM
MILITARY
APPLICATIONS
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree of
Bachelor of Engineering
in
Mechanical Engineering
Submitted by:-

KISHOR KUMAR YADAV VM

(1VJ15ME019)
Under the Guidance of
Mr.PAMPAPATHI M
Assistant Professor of Dept Mechanical Engineering VVIT

VIJAYA VITTALA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

#35/1,Dodda Gubbi Post, Hennur-Bagalur road, Bengaluru-560077
Department of Mechanical Engineering

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 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that this Technical Seminar entitled “CARBON FOAM MILITARY
APPLICATIONS ” is bonafied work carried out by Mr. KISHOR KUMAR YADAV V
M on the partial fulfillment for the award of Bachelor of Engineering as prescribed by
VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, BELGAUM for the academic
year 2018 -2019. The Seminar Report has been approved as it satisfies the academic
requirements of technical seminar prescribed for Bachelor of Engineering.

Seminar Guide Head of Department

Mr. PAMPAPATHI M Dr. N Krishnamurthy
Assistant Professor Professor
Department of Mechanical Engg Department of Mechanical Engg
VVIT, Bengaluru VVIT, Bengaluru

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 Name: Mr. KISHOR KUMAR YADAV V M
Title: “CARBON FOAM MILITARY APPLICATIONS”

Particulars Max. Marks Marks Obtained

Selection of Topic & Information

20
related to the Topic

Presentation 30

Technical Report 30

Response to Doubt 10

Dress Code 10

Total Marks 100

Seminar Coordinator HOD, MED

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 ABSTRACT

A series of carbon foams was developed by using low-cost precursors, such as coal,
coal tar pitch and petroleum pitch. The properties of the resultant carbon foams
cover a wide range, e.g., bulk density, 0.32–0.67 g/cm3, compressive strength, 2.5–
18.7 MPa, isotropic and anisotropic microstructure, etc. The investigation of foaming
mechanism and the relationship between properties and structure indicate that the
fluidity and dilatation of the foaming precursors significantly affect the foaming
performance and foam structure. Raw coal samples were foamed directly without
pretreatment in this work. However, for the pitch based foaming precursor, a thermal
pretreatment is necessary to adjust its thermoplastic properties to meet the foaming
requirement. The mechanical strength of carbon foam is found to be related to not
only the foam cell structure, but also the fluidity and anisotropic domain size of the
foaming precursors. In addition, the micro and mesopore structure in carbon foam
matrix was investigated by gas adsorption and it was found that it also affects the
strength of carbon foam and is related to the fluidity of foaming precursor.

Keywords
 Porous carbon, coal, pitch;

 Carbonization, heat treatment;

 Optical microscopy, SEM;

 Mechanical properties, porosity

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 CONTENTS
TITILE PAGE NO.

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER2 :LITERATURE SURVEY

CHAPTER 3 : DEVELOPEMENT OF CARBON FOAM

CHAPTER 4: WHAT IS FOAM

TYPES OF FOAMS
OPEN CELL STRUCTURED FOAM
CLOSED CELL STRUCTURED FOAM
BASIC TERMINOLOGIES OF FOAM

CHAPTER 5:CHARACTERIZATION OF FOAM

CHAPTER 6: PROPERTIES
ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY
DENSITY
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
STRENGTH
FUEL CELL

CHAPTER 7: APPLICATIONS
LIGHT WEIGHT ARMOR
ROCKET NOZZLES
SAFE ROOMS
ABRASIVIES
FILTERS
BUMPERS
ACOUSTIC TILES
RADAR ABSORBING MATERIALS

CHAPTER 8: ADVANTAGES

CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSION

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Carbon foam is a new porous multi-functional carbon material with properties including low density,

controllable electric and thermal conductivity, fire-resistance, erode-resistance, sound and impact energy

absorption and so on [1-5]. There are many applications for carbon foam in commercial purposes as thermal

management material, structural material, sound absorption material, catalyst support [6-11]. This material

was different from the carbon and graphite foams produced previously

a predominately spherical porosity with smaller openings between the cells. It is fabricated with the highly

oriented sheets of the graphite parallel to the cell walls, yielding thermal conductivities in the ligaments as

high as 1700 W/(m·K). The bulk thermal conductivity is more than 100 W/(m·K) at a bulk density of

approximately 0.5 g/cm3 [11]. The properties of the carbon foam are mainly determined by the natures of

the precursor material and preparing parameters. Mesophase pitch is an important type of foaming precursor,

which can be either optically anisotropic or isotropic in nature. It is known that pitch can develop large

anisotropic domain yields highly graphitizable carbon, while pitch develops small anisotropic domains is

less graphatizable [3,6]. In the present paper, three different mesophase pitches were introduced as

precursors to prepare high thermal conductivity carbon foams. The properties of precursors and carbon

foams were studied.

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 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE SURVEY

[1] R B Hall, J W Hager. (1993) Graphitic Foams as Potential Structural Materials, 26th Biennial
Conference on Carbon Extended Abstracts, 100-101.
[2] J S Colton, N P Suh. (1987) Polymer Engineering and Science, 27 (7), 485.
[3] D Dutta, C S Hill, D P Anderson. (1994) Processing, Structure, and Morphology of Graphitic Carbon
Foams Produced from Anisotropic Pitch, Novel Forms of Carbon, edited by C. L. Renschler, D. M. Cox, J.
J. Pouch, and Y.Achiba (Mater. Res. Soc. Proc., 349, San Francisco, CA) 61-66.
[4] R J Gaeta.(2006) The sound absorbing potential of carbon-graphite foam. AIAA 2006-2405. [5] E
Silverman. (2005) Multifunctional carbon foam development for spacecraft applications SAMPE
Journal,AMPE Journal, 41(3): 19-23. [6] J Klett. (2000) High thermal conductivity, mesophase pitch derived
carbon foams: effect of precursor on structure and properties. Carbon;38(7):953–73. [7] J Klett, A D
McMillan, D Stinton, (2002) Modeling geometric effects on heat transfer with graphite foam. Extended
Abstracts, The 26th Annual Conference on Ceramic, Metal, and Carbon Composites, Materials, and
Structures, Cocoa Beach, Florida. [8] V Shanmugasundaram, M L Ramalingam. (2007) Thermal
management system with energy storage for an airborne laser power system application. 5th International
Energy Conversion Engineering Conference and Exhibit (IECEC) 25 - 27 June, St. Louis, Missouri, AIAA
2007-4817 [9] Q Yu, B E Thompson, A G Straatman, (2005) carbon foam-new generation of enhanced
surface compact recuperators for gas turbines, ASME Turbo Expo vol.1; Reno-Tahoe,NV(US). [10] J S
Coursey, J Kim, P J Boudreaux. (2005) Performance of graphite foam evaporator for use in thermal
management, Journal of Electronic Packaging, Vol.127(2), 127-134 [11] J Klett.(1998)High thermal
conductivity mesophase pitch-derived carbon foam, Eurocarbon 98: Science and Technology of Carbon,
Published French Carbon Group,

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 CHAPTER - 3

Development of Carbon foam

 Carbon foams were developed by using template route. Commercially available open
cell polyurethane (PU) foam was used as template and phenolic resin was used as
carbon precursor.
 PU foams were impregnated with phenolic resin solution and cured.
 Carbonization of cured foam was carried out up to 700 °C in an inert atmosphere to
make carbon foam.
 Materials used:
 Commercially available open cell polyurethane foams
 Phenolic resin,
Gas: Nitrogen.

Characteristics of Polyurethane foam:

 Open cell polyurethane (PU) foams, commercially available were collected having
different densities shown in below figure. There were of different colours.

 Open cell PU foams used were characterized for their density. The densities of
different foams were calculated and table-1 gives density of different types of foam.
The density varies from 0.02 to 0.04 g/cc.

Figure: PU Foam having different densities

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 Table I: Density of different PU foams
No. Colour PU foam density, (gm/cc)

i White 0.020

ii Dark grey 0.026

iii Yellow 0.030

v Pink 0.040

Preparation of resin solution:

Experimental work:

 Cleaned PU foam was impregnated with phenolic resin.

 The open cell PU foams having density of 0.04 g/cc were selected for development of
foam.
 The foams were washed in distilled water and dried in oven at 100 °C.
 The colour of PU foam was pink. Cleaned PU foams were cut into small rectangular and
square pieces.
 Dimensions of PU foam pieces were taken using verniercallipers and mass by using
electronic balance
 For that PU foam was dipped into beaker filled with phenolic resin.
 The excess resin was removed from time to time to achieve uniform impregnation.
 Drying and curing of foams:
 Drying of resin impregnated foam was carried out in oven at between 60-70 °C over
night and then after one day at 140 °C.
 To enhance the degree of cross linking between phenolic chains, impregnated PU foams
were cured at 150 °C overnight.
 The change in color of foam appeared to be dark brown as shown in figure

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 Carbonization:
 The cured foams were carbonized at 700 °C in nitrogen atmosphere.
The carbonization assembly used for making carbon foam is shown in figure (A).
 Carbonization was carried out in carbonization reactor having gas outlet and inlet on
same side.
 The reactor was made up of stainless steel material.
 The S.S. container was placed in a muffle furnace which was heated electrically.
 Heating and cooling rate of the furnace was controlled by temperature programmer.
 The temperature of furnace was measured using thermocouple and temperature
programmer/controller was used to maintain the temperature of furnace.
 High purity Nitrogen gas was used during carbonization as an inert gas.

Figure (A): Set up for carbonization

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Page 11
 CHAPTER - 4
WHAT IS FOAM ?

A Foam is a substance that is formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid.

 Now carbon foam means a carbonaceous porous solid having well connected network
of struts.
The foams can be classified into two types based on their pore structure:
 1.Open cell structured foams (also known as reticulated foams i.e. like a net) and
2.Closed cell foams shown in figure

1.Open cell foam 2.Closed cell foam

1.Open cell structured Foam
 Open cell structured foams are relatively soft as they contain pores that are
connected to each other and form an interconnected network.

 Open cell foams can be filled with whatever those are surrounded with.

 i.e. If filled with air this could be a relatively good insulator, but if the open cells
are filled with water, insulation properties would be reduced. The solid
component of reticulated foam may be an organic polymer like polyurethane, a
ceramic or a metal.

 These foams are used in wide range of applications where high porosity and
large surface area are needed, including filters, catalyst supports, fuel tank
inserts, and loudspeaker covers.

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Close cell structured Foam
 Closed cell foams have isolated pores. Normally closed cell foams have higher
compressive strength due to their structures.

 However, closed cell foams are also generally denser, require more material, and
consequently are more expensive to produce.

 The closed cells can be filled with a specialized gas to provide improved
insulation.

 The closed cell structure foams have higher dimensional stability, low moisture
absorption coefficients and higher strength compared to open cell structured
foams.

 All types of foam are widely used as core material in sandwich structured
composite materials.

 The disadvantage of the closed-cell foam is that it is denser, requiring more

material, and therefore, more expensive.

Basic terminologies of foams

 Strut, cell and pore :

 The microstructure of foam in below figure shows cells, pores and struts.

 The basic structure of foam is made up of interconnected cells.

 The cells are made of pores and connected through struts. Struts are also called
ligaments. In given foam, there are pores joined through ligaments.

cell struts

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 CHAPTER -5

Characterization of foams
(SEM; Hitachi S-3000N). Due to the high electrical conductivity of carbon foams, samples were not gold
sputter coated at high magnificationgs. The average pore size, apparent porosity and pore size distribution of
porous carbon foams were obtained using image analysis by sampling at least 10 random regions on
samples. The thermal conductivity of foams was determined using the thermal flash technique at room
temperature with a xenon flash lamp source. The thermal diffusivity of the foam was measured on samples
10mm diameter by 8mm thicken (z direction: the foaming direction) on the JR-3 nanoflash machine. The
sample density and specific heat capacity were then used to calculate the thermal conductivity from the
following equation: κ = α·ρ·Cp Equation 1 where, κ = Thermal conductivity (W/(m·K)), α = Thermal
diffusivity (cm2/s), Cp =Specific The morphologies of porous carbon foams were examined by a field
emission scanning electron microscopy heat (J/(g·K)), and ρ = Density (g/cm3). The compressive strength of
carbon foams were measured on the samples 10mm diameter by 20mm thicken (z direction: the foaming
direction) by SANS CM

CHAPTER -6

Properties of graphitic and non-graphitic carbon foam are listed in table on next slide.
The most important properties are

• High temperature resistance

• Hardness

• Low density

• Low electrical resistance

• Low friction

• Low thermal resistance

• Extreme resistance to chemical attack

• Impermeability to gases and liquids.

• Glassy carbon is widely used as an electrode material in electrochemistry, as well as

for high temperature crucibles and as a component of some prosthetic devices.

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 ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY

• The material's electrical conductivity can also be varied over nine orders of magnitude (0.01
to 106Ω).
• This makes it a perfect electrical conductor (PEC) of wide-band frequency and wide-angle
incidence for radar-absorbing and electromagnetic shielding applications.
• The foams bond easily to metal and other dissimilar materials and their mechanical properties
won't degrade with high temperature if protected from oxidation.

DENSIT

• CFOAM is a cellular foam with densities as high as 1.4 gm/cm3 and as low as 0.1 gm/cm3,
in the lab.
• Current development activities are looking at producing substrates with even lower densities.
• The carbon foam comes in a variety of near-netshape configurations or it can be easily cut,
milled, and turned with conventional machine tools.
• The Touchstone carbonfoammaking process can vary cell size and degree of openness to
support compressive strengths over 10 kpsi.
• Development goals are to push these limits to strengths of 15 kpsi.

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY

• The material also has a low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE).

• This, coupled with its inherent stiffness, makes it an option for lightweight mirrors used in
space telescopes and high power lasers.
• It easily shapes to the desired optical surface, readily accepts a variety of surface coatings,
and will distort little under temperature extremes in space.

STRENGTH

• The material's high strength coupled with low weight and resistance to fire and impacts
makes it an alternative for aircraft and ship applications.
• This includes interior panels and nonstructural bulkheads, structural insulation or sound
absorption panels, and radar or electromagnetic shielding/absorption panels for ship topside
structures.
• CFOAM can replace existing core materials where stringent fire, smoke, and toxicity
regulations exceed what's possible with polymer foams, honeycombs (polymer, paper, or
metal), or balsa wood.

FUELCELLIn addition, makers of protonexchange-membrane (PEM) fuel cells are also

looking at carbon foams to replace the cell's current bipolar plates.

• CFOAM is an economical alternative that stands up to fuel cell environments (i.e under
acidic, oxidizing, and reducing conditions).

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CHAPTER-7
APPLICATIONS
 Light weight armor
 Rocket nozzles
 Safe rooms
 Abrasives
 Filters
 Bumpers
 Acoustic tiles
 Radar absoring materials

LIGHT WEIGHT ARMOR

CFOAM carbon foam has been designed into a Composite Energy Absorbing Structure called CEASE Blast,
which is an armor product specifically designed to mitigate the effects from a blast.

Touchstone’s patent pending CEASE Blast panels are ideally suited for protecting tactical vehicles,
airplanes, ships, critical infrastructure, buildings, and missile magazines from severe blast threats.

Blast mitigation through energy absorption is a unique property of CEASE Blast panels and is critical in
high-risk scenarios to protect against terrorist attacks, IED (Improvised Explosive Device) attacks, industrial
accidents, or the sympathetic detonation of munitions.

It consists of a compressor, combustion chamber and a turbine. The compressor takes in ambient air and
raises its pressure. Heat is added to the air in combustion chamber by burning the fuel and raises its
temperature.

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 ROCKET NOZZLES

Solid rocket motors generate their thrust by burning a solid propellant to generate hot
gases, which are exhausted through a converging-diverging nozzle.

Current nozzles are often made from a variety of metal alloys, carbon-carbon or carbon
phenolic composites, which are able to withstand high temperature and pressure
environments, but are heavy and expensive.

Because of its unique combination of mechanical and thermal properties, CFOAM

offers the potential for significant improvements in solid motor nozzle technology.

carbon foam rocket nozzle design.carbon foam rocket nozzle

SAFE ROOMS
A safe room is a small, windowless room built inside a structure designed to protect
occupants from harm due to severe weather related threats such as tornadoes, tropical
cyclones, or straight line winds

CFOAM carbon foam, because of its high strength, outstanding energy absorption, and
non-combustibility in accordance with ISO 1182 standards, is an ideal material for use
in the construction of safe rooms.

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ABRASIVES
CFOAM Carbon Foam is made from an inorganic form of carbon that has a very high
hardness. In addition, its cellular structure makes it a great candidate for a wide
spectrum of abrasive applications from a cosmetic exfoliation to the polishing of glass,
metals, and the removal of paints.

CFOAM Carbon Foam is a rigid foam which can be machined to simple or complex
shapes. In addition, its open pore structure allows a liquid to be passed through the
foam flushing away abraded particles and cooling the surface.

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FILTERS
CFOAM carbon foam is relatively inert and capable of operating at high temperature. In
addition, it has an open cell structure, as can be seen from the scanning electron micrograph
at the bottom.

Therefore, CFOAM carbon foam an ideal candidate for use as a filter in extreme applications
from the filtration of aggressive solvents to the filtration of some molten metals.

Radar absoring materials

CFOAM carbon foam radar absorbing material.Touchstone Research Laboratory has tailored
the electrical properties of CFOAM Carbon Foam to create a unique high temperature radar
absorbing material (RAM) for use in electromagnetic interference reduction, suppression of
surface waves, and reduced cross section (RCS) applications.

CFOAM Carbon Foam radar absorbers are ideal for applications that require absorption at
elevated service temperatures up to 600°F.

Because this multi-functional carbon foam is high temperature and strong, it can produce a
high temperature radar absorbing structure (RAS).

The surface of CFOAM carbon foam can be machined into complex geometric shapes to
improve microwave absorption. Various radar transparent coatings can be applied.

This CFOAM radar absorbing carbon foam is resistant to UV, does not rot, and does not
support mold under most conditions. CFOAM radar absorbing carbon foam is available in a
wide variety of densities.

Please contact Carbon Innovations, LLC. for more detailed information and availability of
their CFOAM carbon foam high temperature radar absorbing materials.

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 Bumpers
 Car bumpers generally consist of a tough plastic cover and underneath, a
reinforcement framework made of steel, aluminum, fiberglass composite, or plastic.

 To be effective, bumper systems also should include mechanisms that compress to

absorb crash energy — polypropylene foam, plastic honeycomb, or other materials,
and be designed with an appropriate distance between the reinforcement bar and the
structure that it is to protect.

 CFOAM carbon foam’s cellular structure can be tailored by adjusting the cell wall
thickness and pore size along one axis, resulting in a variable crush strength vs.
penetration depth.

 Shown here is a concept for a bumper system crush capsule made up of CFOAM
carbon foam with an axial guide hole, wrapped in a high strength polymer composite
sheet material. The capsules are placed in specially designed cylinder/plunger
mechanisms which connect the bumper system to the protected structure.

 CFOAM carbon foam is expected to play an important role in energy absorption

for automobiles, trucks, and race cars.

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 Acoustic tiles
 Typically, a one inch thick piece of Carbon Innovations’ Carbon Foam will absorb
between 20-60% of a sound wave directed at it, depending on the frequency of the
wave.

 Increasing the thickness of the foam could yield absorption values closer to 100%,
without sacrificing a large weight increase.

 The acoustic properties of CFOAM Carbon Foam, when combined with its other
attractive properties such as fire resistance, low thermal conductivity, low density and
high strength, offer a state of the art material system for many applications
requiring sound absorption.

ADVANTAGES
Low coeffecient of thermal expansion for composite tooling more closely matching
composite part

Lower fabrication costs

Lighter weight tools

Tooling easier to modify or repair

Improved performance durability

Increased autoclave part throughput due to low mass tooling

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Page 22
 CONCLUSION - 9
Three different mesophase pitches are the suitable foaming precursors. They generate high
thermal conductivity and certain compressive strength carbon foams, which is a good
candidate for structural and energy absorption applications. Mesophase pitch mainly
generates anisotropic carbon foam. Compared to precursor C, precursor A and B with higher
volatile components generate lower density and higher thermal conductivity carbon foams.
The properties of carbon foams could be adjusted by precursors and controlling the processes
of heating procedure and foaming pressure. The thermal conductivity and strength of carbon
foam is determined by the foam cell structure, and the pore wall thickened with increasing
foams’ density

Carbon foams will help to enhance capabilities and improve affordability, supporting today’s
war fighter Applications for coal-based carbon foams continue to be developed as the
material is accepted as a mainstream structural building block for tomorrow’s technology.

Current application examples include targeted advances in composite tooling, vehicle blast
mitigation, radar absorption, and ablation panels.

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