Manufacture and applications of C/C-SiC and C/SiC composites

Abstract

Carbon fibre reinforced SiC, the most widely used CMC materials, can be divided up into two main types, C/SiC and C/C-SiC, mainly differing in their microstructural design. C/SiC materials are characterized by C fibres, embedded almost separately in SiC matrix. Therefore, fibre preforms are used and the SiC matrix is built up by Chemical Vapour Infiltration (CVI) or Polymer Infiltration and Pyrolysis (PIP). In contrast, C/C-SiC materials are based on porous Carbon/Carbon (C/C) preforms. Thereby, not the single fibres, but dense C/C bundles, consisting of several hundreds of C fibres, embedded in a C matrix, are again embedded in a SiC matrix, build up by Liquid Silicon Infiltration (LSI). In this presentation, the influences of the manufacturing methods on the morphology and properties of the resulting CMC materials, as well as on the feasibility of components are shown, and an overview of current applications is given.