The Microstructure Evolution Process and Flexural Behaviours of SiC Matrix Ceramic Infiltrated by Aluminium Base Alloy

Wei Wang; Jinsheng Jia; Yong Sun; Zhuang Kong; Tianyi Na; Liangliang Yang; Ruina Ma; Qiang Li

doi:10.3390/ma15165746

The Microstructure Evolution Process and Flexural Behaviours of SiC Matrix Ceramic Infiltrated by Aluminium Base Alloy

Materials (Basel). 2022 Aug 20;15(16):5746. doi: 10.3390/ma15165746.

Authors

Wei Wang^{1

2}, Jinsheng Jia¹, Yong Sun¹, Zhuang Kong¹, Tianyi Na¹, Liangliang Yang¹, Ruina Ma², Qiang Li²

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Green Building Materials, China Building Materials Academy, Beijing 100024, China.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China.

Abstract

In this paper, an infiltration approach was proposed to generate a Ti₃Si(Al)C₂ transition layer in SiC matrix composites to effectually strengthen SiC ceramics. The infiltration temperature played a significant role in the evolution of the microstructure, phase composition, and flexural behaviours. Molten aluminium base alloy fully penetrated SiC ceramic after infiltration at different experimental temperatures (800-1000 °C). The phases in the reaction layer on the surface of SiC ceramic samples varied with the infiltration temperature. When infiltrated at 800 °C, only SiC and Al phases can be found in SiC composites, whereas at 900 °C, a reaction layer containing Ti₃Si(Al)C₂ and SiC was produced. The Ti₃Si(Al)C₂ phase grew in situ on SiC. At 1000 °C, the Ti₃Si(Al)C₂ phase was unstable and decomposed into TiC and Ti₅Si₃. The cermet phase Ti₃Si(Al)C₂ was synthesized at a relatively low temperature. Consequently, the flexural modulus and three-point bending strength of samples infiltrated at 900 °C was enhanced by 1.4 and 2.4 times for the original SiC ceramic, respectively.

Keywords: SiC; Ti3Si(Al)C2; flexural behaviours; infiltration; microstructure.

Grants and funding

51601056/National Natural Science Foundation of China