Microstructural evolution and phase transformation of cansas 3303 SiC fibers during thermal shock at 1200 °C

Abstract

A self-built automatic platform was built to evaluate the thermal shock performances of Cansas-III SiC fibers at 1200 °C in air up to 500 cycles, the corresponding oxidation and damage mechanisms were then revealed. The results showed that oxide scale was formed during thermal shock with a thickness of about 1 μm, the core was not oxidized via its protection. The fiber roughness increased before 100 cycles due to the decomposition of the amorphous SiCxOy phase, and then decreased as the formation of oxide scale. Within Cansas-III SiC fibers, structural defects of free carbon increased as the increasing ID/IG values, in addition, the TO peak shifted to the left, which both demonstrated that the relative movements occurred among SiC grains and residual stresses were then emerged. To clarify the axis and radial cracking of the oxide scale, a modified formulation considering nonzero shear strain components was then proposed to calculate the related residual stresses. The peeling and cracking of the oxide scale was ascribed to the residual stresses of GPa level among SiC grains and the thermal expansion mismatch between the oxide scale and the core.