Abstract
Boron, high silica, fused quartz and ceramic fibers are used in demanding industrial, automotive, electronic, aircraft and aerospace environments. Boards made of ceramic fibers such as alumina, alumina-silica or zirconia are used as supplemental linings to insulate high temperature furnaces. Ceramic tiles containing alumina and silica fibers protect the aluminum skin of USA’s space shuttle orbiter during re-entry, where the tile’s surface may be aerodynamically heated to 1260°C (Banas, McCormick and Creedon, 1991). Other applications of these fibers involve reinforcing polymer-, glass-, ceramic-, or metal-matrix composites. If the composite is well designed, it will be tougher than the matrix material by itself. As an example, the fracture toughness of SiC is 1.5 MPa m-2, but 8–15 for SiC reinforced with SiC fibers (Richerson, 1992).
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
