Abstract
The high topological silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics can be prepared by stereolithography (SLA) combined with liquid silicon infiltration (LSI) techniques. This paper aims to enhance the performance of SiC ceramics prepared by SLA and LSI techniques via the cyclic impregnation/carbonization of the precursor of carbon source solution before LSI. The effects of impregnation/carbonization cycles on the microstructure and properties of C/SiC preform and sintered body were analyzed in detail. The results show that, with the increase of impregnation/carbonization cycles, the porosity in the C/SiC preform decreases obviously and the content of secondary SiC in the sintered body increases effectively. Especially, when the impregnation/carbonization cycle was performed twice, the sintered body had the optimal mechanical properties. The value of flexural strength, bulk density and elastic modulus were 258.63 ± 8.33 MPa, 2.95 ± 0.02 g/cm3 and 425.16 ± 14.15 GPa, respectively. In addition, the thermal dimensional stability of sintered body was also improved by this method. This method proves that SiC ceramics prepared by SLA combined with LSI have the potential of applications in space optical mirrors.
Highlights
Silicon carbide (SiC) is the main candidate material for spatial optical mirrors, due to its excellent thermal dimensional stability, low density and high strength [1,2,3]
The results indicated that the content and size of residual Si in RB-SiC would be effectively reduced and the content of β-SiC would be increased after liquid silicon infiltration (LSI) process
The results showed that the pores in C/SiC preform became smaller and uniform with the increase of cyclic impregnation/carbonization of PF solution, and the connection between SiC particles was enhanced
Summary
Silicon carbide (SiC) is the main candidate material for spatial optical mirrors, due to its excellent thermal dimensional stability, low density and high strength [1,2,3]. Additive manufacturing widely used in the preparation of ceramics includes binder jet printing (BJP) [7], direct ink writing (DIW) [8], selective laser sintering (SLS) [9] and stereolithography (SLA) [10,11]. Among these technologies, SLA has the advantages of being cost-saving and time-saving, as well as high precision. Liquid silicon infiltration (LSI) has the advantages of a short cycle, near net-shape forming and excellent performance of the sintered body (RB-SiC). The low mechanical properties are the obstacles to the application of RB-SiC ceramics formed by SLA
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