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Jakob Denk, Xiaojian Liao, Martin Dulle, Stefan Schafföner, Stephan Förster, Andreas Greiner, Günter Motz, Seema Agarwal

Materials Horizons, 2024, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4MH00956H

Carbon fibers are highly valued for their lightweight characteristics, outstanding mechanical properties, and cost-efficiency. However, their limited oxidation resistance and low thermomechanical stability in hot air impose constraints on their utilization. Here, we present an approach to simultaneously achieve high thermomechanical properties and high-temperature oxidation resistance in carbon–ceramic hybrid fibers featuring a highly aligned co-continuous topological structure through a continuous process. These hybrid fibers exhibit superior mechanical properties compared to pure carbon fibers with the same diameter (20 lm), including a tensile strength of 2.0 +/- 0.2 GPa, Young’s modulus of 175 +/- 34 GPa, and elongation at break of 1.3 +/- 0.2%. Moreover, when subjected to thermal exposure under stress loading conditions in air, the ceramic constituents form a protective oxidized ceramic layer that effectively mitigates thermal oxidation and mechanical loading effects at elevated temperatures, surpassing the performance of carbon fibers. Our discovery offers a promising avenue for bridging the performance gap between cost-effective high-strength carbon fibers and expensive SiC Counterparts with exceptional oxidation resistance, which can be applied in many fields wherever high thermomechanical loading and oxidation-resistant properties are important.