SiC-Based Composites Through Liquid Infiltration Routes

Abstract

Carbon fiber-reinforced silicon carbide matrix composites (called C/SiC or C/C-SiC) represent a relatively new class of structural materials. These composites have emerged as one of the most promising materials for high-temperature applications in defense and aerospace sectors. They are fabricated via chemical vapor infiltration (CVI), polymer impregnation and pyrolysis (PIP), and liquid silicon infiltration (LSI) processing routes. Several new manufacturing processes have been developed during the last few years such as short fiber reinforcements' based and cheap ceramic precursor polymer based. These composites possess high mass-specific properties, structural and dimensional stability at high temperature, low coefficient of thermal expansion, high thermal conductivity, and reasonable oxidation resistance. These properties have increased the importance of the C/SiC composites and thus make them as most preferred materials for the aerospace, defense, and civil/industrial applications like thrust vectoring control vanes, nozzles, brake disks and pads, clutches, furnace charging devices, etc. This chapter presents the processing and characterization of the C/SiC composite fabricated by liquid infiltration routes, viz., PIP and LSI. Typical properties of the C/SiC composites like mechanical, thermal, and ablative are presented. Few established and potential application of these composites are discussed briefly.