A Brief Analysis of the Classification of Carbon Fiber Products – Carbon Paper, Carbon Cloth, Carbon Felt

 

Carbon Paper literally means carbon fiber paper, but in the current practical application of the hydrogen energy industry, “carbon paper” generally refers to “the finished carbon fiber paper obtained by post-processing”. The post-processing process generally includes impregnation and compounding, curing and strengthening, carbonization and graphitization, hydrophobic modification, microporous layer preparation, etc.

 

“Carbon Paper” does not refer to a specific item, but a series of items. Their commonality is: carbon fiber is used as the main raw material, with dispersants, binders, reinforcing agents, etc., and paper-like products prepared by wet or dry papermaking processes; in the papermaking industry, carbon paper can be classified as special paper. Different from the common book paper in life, carbon paper has a rougher surface and a more unique hydrophilic and hydrophobic, pore structure design due to the particularity of its use (gas diffusion, mass transfer and heat transfer, mechanical support, etc.), as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

 

Three-dimensional Structure Simulation Diagram

 

Carbon Paper Surface Map

Book Surface Map

 

Carbon Cloth, as the name implies, is carbon fiber cloth, which is a fabric of carbon fiber. It not only has the intrinsic characteristics of carbon materials, but also has the flexibility and processability of textile fibers. It has high specific strength, strong bending resistance, and good creep resistance. It is widely used in defense and military industry, sports and entertainment, industrial construction, batteries and other industries. Similar to carbon paper, carbon cloth is also a general term for a series of products. Different fiber raw materials, weaving methods, and application fields have derived a variety of carbon cloth products.

 

Plain Carbon Fiber Cloth

 

Satin Carbon Fiber Cloth

 

Carbon Felt is carbon fiber felt, which belongs to non-woven fabrics. It is a carbon fiber non-woven fabric. Generally, after being formed into a net through a dry forming process (airflow forming), it undergoes hot rolling, needle punching, spunlace and other consolidation processes to obtain the finished carbon felt product.

 

Carbon Felt can be obtained by high-temperature heat treatment to obtain graphite felt. Carbon felt and graphite felt are widely used in thermal insulation materials; excellent corrosion resistance and adsorption make it widely used in filtration and corrosion protection materials; electrode materials for flow batteries are also a major field of its application.

 

 

Carbon Paper, Carbon Cloth and Carbon Felt can all be used as base materials for fuel cell gas diffusion layers and can be used in PEM fuel cells, PEM electrolyzers, flow batteries, etc. At the same time, their related products also have huge market potential in the fields of thermal insulation, composite reinforcement, filtration and adsorption.