Characterization of SiC ceramics with complex porosity by capillary infiltration: Part A - Filling by hexadecane at 20 °C

Abstract

The characterization of the porosity of ceramic materials is of prime importance for numerous applications. The work is being presented in two parts: A and B. In this part (Part A), several porous SiC samples exhibiting different sizes and porosity spectra were characterized by capillary infiltration of hexadecane at room temperature. The model materials contain a bimodal pore population generated by cracks and porogens. The monitoring of the weight increase in time for each sample evidence the occurrence of two successive filling stages with specific kinetics, except for the reference samples which contain only one kind of pore. The first kinetic is found clearly larger than the second. A new analytical function was used to identify the transition times and the kinetics of each stage. The various values of the kinetics revealed the occurrence of different infiltration mechanisms. The same model correlates silicon infiltration observations as well (Part B).