Effect of catalytic graphitization on the thermo-mechanical properties of isotropic graphite doped with metallic carbides

The influence of several graphitization parameters (temperature, dwell time, HIPing subsequent to graphitization) on the final properties of doped isotropic graphite has been investigated. The aim of this work is to obtain doped isotropic graphite with reduced chemical erosion by hydrogen bombardment, high thermal conductivity and large thermal shock resistance. As starting material, a self-sintering mesophase carbon powder and different metallic carbides (TiC, VC, ZrC and WC) as dopants has been used. Longer dwell time results in a remarkable increase of thermal conductivity, depending on the dopant and on the graphitization temperature. However, it leads also to carbide coarsening and local carbide agglomeration and thus to degradation of the mechanical properties. HIPing subsequent to graphitization leads to a significant reduction of porosity for the materials doped with VC and WC and thus to an improvement of their mechanical properties. A solid-liquid-solid model for metal catalysts can be applied to our experimental observations of graphitization in the presence of metallic carbides.