Design and Preparation of Carbon Template with Tailored Porous System

A mold with tailored network structures was fabricated by stereolithography. A carbon template was prepared using the mold, which was filled with a mixture of phenolic resin and starch powder, and then pyrolyzed in a nitrogen atmosphere. Thermo-gravimetric analysis was applied to study the pyrolysis behaviors of photo-curable resin, phenolic resin and starch. X-ray diffraction Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope were employed to analyze and identify the phase and microstructures of the carbon templates. Open porosity and density of the carbon templates were measured by Archimedes principle. The result shows that the carbon template is noncrystalline material and has a turbostratic structure, containing few C-H bonds. Crystalline order increases with increasing pyrolysis temperature. The porous system includes channels, large pores (d=10-50μm) and small pores (d=l-3μm), this make it possible to fabricate thick wall components without cracks.