Preceramic polymer composite: Fabrication process and mechanical performance

Abstract

Preceramic polymers, which are converted into ceramics upon heat treatment, offer an advantage of combining the shaping and synthesis of ceramics parts. In this work, the Polymer Infiltration and Pyrolysis (PIP) process is employed to fabricate ceramic composite prototypes using preceramic polymers with carbon/glass fabrics, followed by experimental investigations of the mechanical properties of the ceramic composite samples (e.g. hardness and compression strength). X-ray micro computed tomography and SEM analysis were conducted to examine the effectiveness of the PIP.