Abstract: In the production of all-carbon composite articles by the cracking of a hydrocarbon gas to deposit carbon on a fibrous carbon substrate the substrate is held in the furnace by a ram movable in the furnace to engage the substrate. The gas is introduced inside the annular substrate and evacuated at a position spaced laterally from the substrate so that the gas is forced to disperse through the substrate wall.

Abstract: The invention provides a more economical carbon-fiber-reinforced carbon surfaced friction member, such as a brake disc, by replacing a disc which is of fiber-reinforced carbon throughout its thickness by a disc in which a fiber-reinforced surface layer is bonded to a base of a less expensive material, such as bulk graphite. A textile may be applied to the base and carbonized and carbon deposited on the textile layer by the multiple impregnation process or the chemical vapor deposition process. In the latter process the base is preferably heated above the temperature of the textile layer, e.g. by electrical induction or resistance, to obtain carbon deposition from the base outward through the textile layer.