Polymer Derived Ceramic Nanocomposites Coating Reinforced With Carbon Nanotube Preforms

Ceramics have a number of applications as coating material due to their high hardness, wear and corrosion resistance, and the ability to withstand high temperatures. Carbon nanotube has been widely used as reinforcement to improve the mechanical properties and thermal and electrical conductivity. However, the high content of carbon nanotube in ceramic matrix composites is hard to achieve, and the properties are somewhat diluted when carbon nanotubes are not well aligned. These problems can be overcome if ceramic coatings are reinforced by carbon nanotubes with good dispersion and suitable alignment. In this study, the dispersion and alignment of carbon nanotubes were achieved with two different types of carbon nanotube preforms, namely vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) and buckypaper. Polymer derived ceramics (PDC) was selected as the matrix to fabricate carbon nanotube reinforced ceramic nanocomposites through resin curing and pyrolysis. The SEM images indicates the alignment of carbon nanotubes in the PDC nanocomposites through-thickness or in the in-plane direction. The thermal, electrical and mechanical properties of the PDC nanocomposites were characterized through TGA, electrical conductivity measurements, and Vickers hardness