Significant Improvement of Mechanical Properties of SiC-Nanowire-Reinforced SiCf/SiC Composites via Atomic Deposition of Ni Catalysts

Zongxu Wu; Haoran Wang; Zhaoke Chen; Ruiqian Zhang; Qingbo Wen; Zongbei He; Ming Li; Xiang Xiong

doi:10.3390/ma15082900

Significant Improvement of Mechanical Properties of SiC-Nanowire-Reinforced SiC_f/SiC Composites via Atomic Deposition of Ni Catalysts

Materials (Basel). 2022 Apr 15;15(8):2900. doi: 10.3390/ma15082900.

Authors

Zongxu Wu^{1

2}, Haoran Wang^{1

2}, Zhaoke Chen^{1

2}, Ruiqian Zhang³, Qingbo Wen^{1

2}, Zongbei He³, Ming Li³, Xiang Xiong²

Affiliations

¹ Science and Technology on High Strength Structural Materials Laboratory, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
³ Science and Technology on Reactor Fuel and Materials Laboratory, Nuclear Power Institute of China, Chengdu 610213, China.

Abstract

This study aimed to study the effects of different catalyst introduction methods on the distribution of SiC nanowires (SiCNWs) and the mechanical properties of SiC_f/SiC composites. Two different catalyst-introduction methods (electroplating (EP) vs. atomic deposition (AD)) have been used to catalyze the growth of SiC nanowires in SiC_f preforms. The morphology, structure and phase composition were systematically investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The SiCNWs-reinforced SiC_f/SiC composited was densified by CVI. The compressive strength of the SiCNWs-reinforced SiC_f/SiC composites was evaluated by radial crushing test. Compared with EP, atomic Ni catalysts fabricated by AD have higher diffusivity for better diffusion into the SiC_f preform. The yield of SiCNWs is effectively increased in the internal pores of the SiC_f preform, and a denser network forms. Therefore, the mechanical properties of SiCNW-containing SiC_f/SiC composites are significantly improved. Compared with the EP-composites and SiC_f/SiC composites, the compressive strength of AD-composites is increased by 51.1% and 56.0%, respectively. The results demonstrate that the use of AD method to grow SiCNWs is promising for enhancing the mechanical properties of SiC_f/SiC composites.

Keywords: SiC nanowires; SiCf/SiC composites; atomic deposition method; compression performance.

Abstract

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