Computational material science of carboncarbon : composites based on carbonaceous mesophase matrices

Carbon/Carbon composites belong to the generic class of fiber reinforced composites and are widely used because of their high strength as well as chemical and thermal stability. Like other fiber reinforced composites they consist of the fibers which act as reinforcements and matrix which acts as a glue that binds the fibers. c/c composites from pitch based precursor are unique since the matrix in this case is a liquid crystal or mesophase. This makes them remarkable in the sense that unlike c/c composites from other precursors such as PAN, rayon etc. they have extremely high degree of molecular orientation and exhibit texture. An important characteristic of their textures is the presence of topological defects. It is hence of great interest to understand and elucidate the principles that govern the formation of textures so as to optimize their properties. In this work we present a computational study of structure formation in carbon-carbon composites that describes the emergence of topological defects due to the distortions in the oriented matrix created by the presence of fiber matrix interaction. Dynamical and structural features of texture formation were characterized using gradient elasticity and defect physics