Fabrication of Silicon Carbide Fiber-Reinforced Silicon Carbide Matrix Composites Using Binder Jetting Additive Manufacturing from Irregularly-Shaped and Spherical Powders.

Igor Polozov,Nikolay Razumov,Anatoly Popovich,Alexey Silin,Yuliya Lebedeva,Dmitriy Masaylo

doi:10.3390/ma13071766

Abstract

In this paper, silicon carbide fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (SiCf/SiC) composites were fabricated using binder jetting additive manufacturing followed by polymer infiltration and pyrolysis. Spherical SiC powders were produced using milling, spray drying, and thermal plasma treatment, and were characterized using SEM and XRD methods. Irregularly shaped and spherical SiC powders were used to obtain SiCf/SiC blends for the application in binder jetting. The effect of SiC powder shape on densification behavior, microstructure, and mechanical properties of binder jetted SiCf/SiC composites was evaluated. The highest density of 2.52 g/cm3 was obtained after six polymer infiltration and pyrolysis cycles. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the fabricated SiCf/SiC composites were characterized. Using the spherical SiC powder resulted in higher fracture toughness and hardness, but lower flexural strength compared to the irregularly shaped powder. It was shown that it is feasible to fabricate dense SiCf/SiC composites using binder jetting followed by polymer infiltration and pyrolysis.

Highlights

Silicon carbide fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (SiCf /SiC) ceramic matrix composites (CMC) are considered to be promising materials for advanced applications in aerospace engines, gas turbines, and nuclear reactors [1]
The present paper demonstrates the feasibility of binder jetting Additive manufacturing (AM) of SiC fiber-reinforced SiC
SiC powder particles were used for fabrication of the samples by binder jetting

Summary

Introduction

Silicon carbide fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (SiCf /SiC) ceramic matrix composites (CMC) are considered to be promising materials for advanced applications in aerospace engines, gas turbines, and nuclear reactors [1]. The main limitation of these methods is the inability to produce parts with complex geometries. The majority of AM processes, excluding those used for manufacturing parts of polymers, use a laser or an electron beam as the energy source, and metal powder or wire as the feedstock material. Such an approach limits the number of materials used in AM, in particular, Materials 2020, 13, 1766; doi:10.3390/ma13071766 www.mdpi.com/journal/materials

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