Rapid densification of C/SiC composite by incorporating SiC nanowires

To obtain a dense carbon fiber reinforced SiC matrix (C/SiC) composite by a chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) technique within a short time, SiC nanowires were introduced into the fiber preform before CVI process. The SiC nanowires were produced on the fiber fabrics by impregnating the mixture of polycarbosilane (PCS) and ferrocene catalyst into the fiber fabrics and pyrolysis of them at high temperatures. The preform that had been obtained by stacking these fiber fabrics was densified by CVI in 200 h, about half time less than the conventional CVI process. It was found that the incorporated SiC nanowires reduced the pore size and provided extra surfaces to accelerate the CVI process. The C/SiC composite with nanowires shows higher density and better flexural strength than the conventional C/SiC composite.