Fabrication of Silicon Carbide Fiber-Reinforced Silicon Carbide Matrix Composites Using Binder Jetting Additive Manufacturing from Irregularly-Shaped and Spherical Powders

Abstract

In this paper, silicon carbide fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (SiC f /SiC) composites were fabricated using binder jetting additive manufacturing followed by polymer infiltration and pyrolysis. Spherical SiC powders were produced using milling, spray drying, and thermal plasma treatment, and were characterized using SEM and XRD methods. Irregularly shaped and spherical SiC powders were used to obtain SiC f /SiC blends for the application in binder jetting. The effect of SiC powder shape on densification behavior, microstructure, and mechanical properties of binder jetted SiC f /SiC composites was evaluated. The highest density of 2.52 g/cm 3 was obtained after six polymer infiltration and pyrolysis cycles. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the fabricated SiC f /SiC composites were characterized. Using the spherical SiC powder resulted in higher fracture toughness and hardness, but lower flexural strength compared to the irregularly shaped powder. It was shown that it is feasible to fabricate dense SiC f /SiC composites using binder jetting followed by polymer infiltration and pyrolysis.

Processing and properties of SiC composites made via binder jet 3D printing and infiltration and pyrolysis of preceramic polymer

“…The cross‐head displacement at failure was also very similar regardless of the number of PIP cycles. The strength values reported here are comparable to values reported by others 22,23 . It is also clear from the analysis of the stress vs cross‐head displacement curves that the stiffness of the samples increased with the number of PIP cycles, as expected considering the increase in density with the number of PIP cycles.…”

“…The strength values reported here are comparable to values reported by others. 22,23 It is also clear from the analysis of the stress vs cross-head displacement curves that the stiffness of the samples increased with the number of PIP cycles, as expected considering the increase in density with the number of PIP cycles. Also, the sharp drop off in stress seen in all samples indicates that these failed in a brittle manner.…”

“…The curing step at 450°C is used to allow more MS-154 resin impregnation before the first pyrolysis. Since the density of SiC parts with additional pyrolyzed SiC with PIP leveled off after a few cycles, 22 it is important to get as much material into the preforms before performing a full pyrolysis heating cycle. Overall, a mass gain from printed to processed through three PIP cycles was ~63 wt.%.…”

“…Polozov et al 22 and Singh et al 23 have demonstrated the use of SiC powders and fibers for printing objects using BJ3DP, followed by PIP with polycarbosilane. They reported that density values ~2.2–2.5 g/cm 3 can be achieved after multiple PIP cycles 23 .…”

Novel hybrid method to additively manufacture denser graphite structures using Binder Jetting

“…Attempts have recently been made to apply BJP to manufacture graphite-based structures with required physical properties 18 – 20 , 22 , 23 . One of the advantages of the BJP process is the capability to achieve the required density and mechanical performance using typical post-processing such as the reaction sintering or liquid metal infiltration 22 , 24 , 25 . The limited reported data about the possible density of graphite and carbon-containing materials by BJP shows for instance that the part density of graphene-based electrodes processed by BJP was only 0.44 g/cm 3 19 .…”