Method for fabricating light weight carbon-bonded carbon fiber composites

Claim 1

Method of fabricating a carbon-bonded carbon fiber composite of a density in a range of about 0.04 to 0.10 grams per cubic centimeter, comprising the steps of forming an aqueous slurry containing about 100 to 500 ppm of solid material consisting essentially of carbonaceous fibers and a carbonizable binder provided by a corable thermosetting resin precursor, contacting a surface of a perforated and configured mandrel with the aqueous slurry, depositing solid material from the aqueous slurry onto the surface of the mandrel by draining water from the aqueous slurry through perforations in the mandrel with gravity flow at a flow rate in the range of 0.03 to 0.30 liters of water per minute per square inch of surface area on said mandrel contacted by said aqueous slurry, continuing the deposition of the solid material onto said mandrel until a billet of the solid material of a desired thickness is formed, heating the billet for curing the resin precursor, removing the molded billet from the mandrel, and thereafter heating the billet in an inert atmosphere to a temperature sufficient to carbonize carbonizable material in said billet for providing said carbon-bonded, carbon fiber composite.