High pressure curing of phenol resin for high quality coating of glassy carbon

Successful coating of high quality glassy carbon is introduced by applying high pressure during the curing process of dip-coated phenol resin on graphite. The dependence of the applied pressure on the quality of the glassy carbon layer has not been reported so far. Pressure was changed from 0 to 400 psi during curing at 200°C. After carbonized at 1100°C in inert atmosphere for the 400 psicured sample, as a promising result, a thick (∼ 3 mm) and smooth glassy carbon layer could be obtained without any breakage, and the yield of carbonization was remarkably increased. It is believed that the cross-linking of resins results in decreasing volatile contents and, thus, increasing the yield of the glassy carbon. The origin of the improvement is discussed on the basis of several analytical results including FE-SEM, FT-IT and Raman spectrum.