AN INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUE TO BOND ONE DIMENSIONAL CARBON-CARBON COMPOSITES TO DISPERSION STRENGHTENED COPPER

ONE DIMENSIONAL CARBON-CARBON (-C) COMPOSITES ARE CONSIDERED AS CANDIDATE TILE MATERIALS FOR DIVERTER APPLICATIONS DUE TO THEIR HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY. UNFORTUNATELY, SUCH COMPOSITES ALSO SUFFER FROM EXTREMELY POOR CROSS-FIBER TENSILE STRENGTH. THE PROBLEM OF BONDING DISPERSIVE STRENGTHENED COPPER (CU) TUBE, WITH AND WITHOUT SOFT OXYGEN-FREE HIGH CONDUCTIVITY (OFHC) CU INTERLAYERS, HAS BEEN ANALYZED BY RESEARCHERS ELSEWHERE WHO CONCLUDED THAT, ALTHOUGH OFHC CU LAYERS WERE BENEFICIAL IN REDUCING THE STRESSES, THE MAGNITUDE OF STRESSES INC THE C-C COMPOSITE WAS STILL HIGH ENOUGH TO CRACK THE C-C COMPOSITE. BY CONTRAST, AN INNOVATIVE SOLUTION IS SUGGESTED WHICH WILL ELIMINATE THE COEFFICIENT OF THERMAL EXPANSION (CTE) MISMATCH IN THE CROSS-FIBER DIRECTION AND SIMULTANEOUSLY REDUCE THE CTE MISMATCH ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE FIBER. THIS IS EXPECTED TO REDUCE THE STRESSES IN THE C-C COMPOSITE TO THE POINT THAT THEY ARE BELOW THE FAILURE STRENGTH OF THE COMPOSITE. AN ATTENDANT BENEFIT OF THIS APPROACH IS THAT THE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF THE TUBE WILL ALSO BE INCREASED. THE FEASIBILITY OF THIS CONCEPT WILL BE INVESTIGATED IN PHASE I BY USING NUMERICAL ANALYSIS AND A UNIQUE COMPOSITE PROCESSING TECHNIQUE.