Silicon carbide (SiC) is an inert ceramic material with superior corrosion resistance and temperature tolerance properties, found naturally as the rare moissanite gemstone and mass produced for use as powder or crystal for applications like car brakes.
NASA’s Glenn Research Center has innovated new methods for incorporating SiC fibers and matrix in metal/ceramic composites for aerospace applications. SiC fiber boasts excellent creep and rupture properties that make it suitable for high temperature structural components.
High Strength
Silicon carbide ceramic fiber stands out among inorganic materials due to its incredible strength. Furthermore, its ability to endure high temperature loads makes it an invaluable reinforcement material for ceramic matrix composites (CMC).
Material should also be relatively lightweight with an excellent strength-to-weight ratio and good hardness and elastic modulus properties, and offer resistance against abrasion and corrosion. Furthermore, its combination of high tensile strength, compressive strength, wear resistance, electrical insulation properties is suitable for various applications.
CMCs have found widespread application in aerospace engine parts, such as turbine rotor blades and power generation gas turbines, which are exposed to high levels of oxidizing temperatures over extended periods. CMCs play an integral part in protecting them from damage or degradation during this exposure period – this is especially important in hypersonic vehicles where their protective system must endure prolonged high temperature exposures.
NASA Glenn Research Center researchers devised a novel process for creating silicon carbide fibers for advanced CMCs. This innovation produces strong yet tailor-made fibers that are easy to handle while healing damaged or poor-quality ones, significantly cutting manufacturing costs and shortening development timelines for these critical components. Furthermore, this allows a wider choice of matrixes and reinforcements that enhance overall performance.
High Modulus
Silicon carbide ceramic fiber has an extremely high modulus of elasticity – comparable to metals – making it perfect for applications requiring stiffness such as bearings and mechanical seals, or aircraft engines and rocket nozzles.
Silicon carbide ceramic fiber can also be combined with metals to form a ceramic-metal composite material that can withstand high temperatures, making it suitable for aerospace, military weapons and equipment, advanced sports equipment as well as aerospace applications. Not only is silicon carbide ceramic fiber known for its strength and modulus qualities but its lightweight manufacturing makes it easier than ever.
The Yajima process is the go-to way of manufacturing silicon carbide ceramic fiber. This technique begins by using liquid polymer to form green (unfired) fibers. They then undergo several processing steps involving high temperature furnaces that convert their polymeric makeup into ceramic chemistry resulting in twisted tows of ceramic fibers smaller than 20 microns in diameter.
Fibers produced using silicon carbide ceramic can come in various sizes and tensile strengths, which can be characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM, TESCAN MIRA3, Czech Republic) and X-ray diffractometry (Bruker AXS D8 Advance, Germany). Their phase composition can also be assessed through surface and cross section morphology analysis as well as measuring carbon content/oxygen content with an oxygen/carbon analyzer such as an EMIA 320 V (Horiba). These analyses help assess quality/performance characteristics when considering silicon carbide ceramic fibers.
High Temperature Resistance
Silicon carbide fiber is an advanced ceramic material composed primarily of carbon and silicon. This ceramic has superior corrosion resistance and high temperature stability, making it suitable for applications requiring resistance to high temperatures like abrasives or raw metallurgical materials; in addition, its thermal shock resistance and mechanical properties also make it stand out.
Silicon carbide ceramics offer superior strength and stiffness over polymer or metal fibers, making it a promising material for use in automotive, aerospace, appliance, architecture and construction applications. Their high temperature endurance also makes silicon carbide ceramics suitable for engine parts that must withstand extended exposure to extreme structural and environmental conditions.
Silicon carbide ceramic fiber is being widely utilized by aerospace industries for fuel systems, engine combustion and turbines. NASA’s Glenn Research Center has conducted studies to create fiber-reinforced ceramic composites capable of withstanding structural demands in high temperature environments for extended periods of time – using silicon carbide (SiC) or aluminum oxide (Al2O3) ceramic fillers in these composites as fillers.
Nicalon(r) fiber is a high-performance SiC fiber with superior strength, corrosion resistance and thermal stability properties. Manufactured on a semitechnical scale via the pyrolysis of precursor methylpolyborosilazane, Nicalon has been approved by US customers for various applications and qualified up to 1400 degC for heating to test its electrical resistivity between hot regions (cold regions) and cold regions of fiber tows for qualification purposes with results being used to model an isothermal resistivity relationship for fibers.
High Corrosion Resistance
Silicon carbide has long been employed as an excellent material in abrasives and structural ceramics due to its exceptional combination of strength, stiffness, corrosion resistance, thermal stability and chemical purity. Due to this property it makes an ideal material for semiconductor wafer tray supports and paddles in the semiconductor industry, lightweight kiln furniture (posts, firing rings, pusher slabs and setter plates), and radio circuitry components like varistors and thermistors.
SiC fibers combine extreme oxidation resistance with high temperature strength to make an outstanding reinforcing material for ceramic matrix composites, providing metal or polymer matrix applications with increased performance, such as gas turbine hot components like tail nozzle parts, combustion chamber, afterburner turbine outer rings and guide vane.
NASA’s Glenn Research Center pioneered SiC/SiC CMC technologies for use in gas turbine engine hot components. These groundbreaking materials combine non-oxide SiC ceramic fibers and ceramic matrix into materials capable of withstanding harsh environmental conditions at temperatures reaching 2700degF for extended periods. Nicalon, an aerospace-specific patented product, provides superior ceramic, polymer and metal matrix composite performance for use within aerospace. It boasts excellent strength modulus properties as well as heat resistance – fully characterized and manufactured according to internal specifications.