Conformal Carbon Nanotube Coatings for Ceramic Composite Structures

Catalytic chemical vapor deposition enables the synthesis and deposition of carbon nanotubes (CNT) directly on substrates, thereby immobilizing them and potentially preventing them from bundling after synthesis. In this work, we investigate the use of this strategy to prepare ceramic hybrids with unbundled CNTs on aluminum oxide (AO) powder and fabric substrates, which are commonly used in the fabrication of ceramic laminate composites. CNT – AO powder hybrids are produced in 250 g batches with up to about 3 wt% CNT content, which is a sufficient amount for sintering into composite plates for mechanical and ballistic characterization. CNT – AO fabric hybrids are produced and it is found that the polymer coating that comes on the as-purchased fabric aids with CNT deposition. Conformal nickel and nickel oxide films deposited by an atomic layer deposition process are found to be excellent catalysts for CNT deposition. These conformal metal films are being used to create better CNT – ceramic hybrids for processing into better composite materials.