Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-wxvwp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-14T19:24:42.134Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Structural and textural changes from polyimide Kapton to graphite: Part I. Optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

C. Bourgerette
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Marcel Mathieu, UMR124 CNRS-DRET-UPPA, 2 avenue du Président P. Angot–Hélioparc, 64000–Pau, France
A. Oberlin
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Marcel Mathieu, UMR124 CNRS-DRET-UPPA, 2 avenue du Président P. Angot–Hélioparc, 64000–Pau, France
M. Inagaki
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060 Japan
Get access

Abstract

Kapton films, 25 μm thick, were carbonized and then graphitized at various temperatures up to 3000 °C. They were studied by optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy and were prepared by thin-sectioning for transmission electron microscopy. The residual embedded blocks were used as polished sections for optical microscopy. Kapton thin film heat-treated at 650 °C showed thin areas of preferred orientation at its two opposite faces. This orientation extends all over the film thickness between 800 °C and 1000 °C. It corresponds to a statistical orientation of small aromatic layer stacks, parallel to the film plane. From 1000 °C up to 2475 °C flattened pores develop everywhere. At 2475 °C, they suddenly collapse and partial graphitization occurs. The Kapton film is completely graphitized between 2820 °C and 3000 °C. The mechanism of graphitization is similar to that of anthracites and also to that of nongraphitizing carbons heat-treated under pressure.

Information

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable