Abstract
Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) based on silicon carbide (SiC) are promising materials for applications as structural components used under high irradiation flux and high temperature conditions. The addition of SiC fibers (SiCf) may improve both the physical and mechanical properties of CMCs and lead to an increase in their tolerance to failure. This work describes the fabrication and characterization of novel preceramic paper-derived SiCf/SiCp composites fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The sintering temperature and pressure were 2100 °C and 20–60 MPa, respectively. The content of fibers in the composites was approx. 10 wt.%. The matrix densification and fiber distribution were examined by X-ray computed tomography and scanning electron microscopy. Short processing time avoided the destruction of SiC fibers during SPS. The flexural strength of the fabricated SiCf/SiCp composites at room temperature varies between 300 and 430 MPa depending on the processing parameters and microstructure of the fabricated composites. A quasi-ductile fracture behavior of the fabricated composites was observed.
Highlights
Silicon carbide (SiC) has excellent properties such as low density, high specific strength, high specific modulus, resistance to thermal shock, low activation, radiation tolerance and corrosion resistance [1]
It can be observed that of thebetween micro-crack is by hindered by thethe fiber the deflected tangential to thepath interface matrix and region: the micro-crack is deflected to when the interface matrix and fiber asmatrix
The following conclusions were made: 1. The preceramic silicon carbide (SiC)-filled papers layer-by-layer reinforced with continuous SiC fibers can be used as raw materials for rapid synthesis of high-strength SiCf /SiCp composites
Summary
Silicon carbide (SiC) has excellent properties such as low density, high specific strength, high specific modulus, resistance to thermal shock, low activation, radiation tolerance and corrosion resistance [1]. The development of SiCf/SiC ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) is the promising approach to fabricate structural materials for aerospace and nuclear industries [8,9] Both the SiC matrix and fiber have high hardness values that do not depend on geometric features [10]. Preceramic papers with fibers by SPS offers time-saving approach to incorporate continuous fibers reinforcing into SiC ceramic matrix and to design a layered structure CMCs avoiding brittle fracture. Considering that the porosity may affect the flexural strength, swelling resistance and other properties of the composites, the sintering pressure was varied from 20 MPa to 60 MPa. To study the effect of the addition of SiC fibers on the mechanical properties of preceramic paper-derived SiC ceramics, the samples without fiber were sintered under the same pressure as the control group. The fiber-free samples were only sintered from stacked preceramic papers by SPS method
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