Carbon foams exhibit numerous unique properties which are attractive for light
weight applications such as aircraft and spacecraft as a tailorable material. Carbon foams,
when exposed to air, oxidize at temperatures as low as 500-600 degrees Celsius. The research
objectives of this study are to assess the degree of oxidation of carbon foam by
experimental and computational methods and evaluate the degradation in stiffness of the
bulk foam as a function of oxygen concentration profile, time and temperature. In
parallel to simulation, oxidation tests are conducted to observe changes in morphology
and to calculate the apparent activation energy. Degradation patterns in the carbon foam
microstructure are categorized through optical microscopy (OM) images post oxidation.
The influence of microstructure and temperature on the oxygen concentration profile is
investigated in parametric models with varying porosity. The degradation in bulk foam
stiffness is found to be strongly dependent on the temperature and non-uniform oxygen
concentration profile. The overall results enhance the design of experiments for high
temperature and oxidative environments, illustrating the relationship between foam
microstructure and oxygen concentration in porous media.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2010-05-7880 |
| Date | 2010 May 1900 |
| Creators | Lee, Seung Min |
| Contributors | Ochoa, Ozden O. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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