Abstract
The manufacture of SiC-based composites is quite widespread, and currently different methods are employed to produce them. The most efficient method, taking into account the cost/performance ratio, is reactive melt infiltration. It consists in infiltrating liquid silicon into a porous preform that must contain carbon, so that SiC is produced during infiltration. In the present work, the synthesis of two SiC-based composite materials with very different applications and microstructures has been studied and optimized. In both cases, materials have been obtained with suitable properties for the selected applications. One of the materials studied is silicon carbide particles/silicon (SiCp/Si) for protection systems such as armor jackets, and the other one is carbon fiber/silicon carbide (Cf/SiC) for use in braking systems. For the optimization, the dwell time and the atmosphere (Ar or primary vacuum) were used as variables. It has been found that in both preforms, the optimum conditions are 1 h dwell time and a vacuum atmosphere at 1450 °C. The effect of these parameters on microstructure and infiltration kinetics are discussed.
Highlights
Composite materials with a high volume fraction of SiC possess attractive properties for high-temperature applications
These kinds of composites can be manufactured with the reactive melt infiltration technique, which provides the possibility of synthesizing a great variety of geometries [6,7,8,9,10,11,12] due to its shape-preservation capabilities
The infiltration process to be used in the synthesis of SiC-based composite materials by reactive infiltration
Summary
Composite materials with a high volume fraction of SiC possess attractive properties for high-temperature applications (e.g., high stiffness, excellent corrosion and abrasion/erosion resistance, low thermal expansion coefficient and low density). Given the low coefficients of thermal expansion of SiCp /Si composites, they are excellent candidates for primary shields in future reusable spacecraft where they could protect against micrometeorites and other space particles’ impact, while being able to withstand the atmosphere reentry process [5]. These kinds of composites can be manufactured with the reactive melt infiltration technique, which provides the possibility of synthesizing a great variety of geometries [6,7,8,9,10,11,12] due to its shape-preservation capabilities
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