Fabrication of SiCw/SiC–Si–Y composites and their resistance to water-oxygen corrosion at 1500 °C

• Published in: Journal of materials research and technology 2023-05, Vol.24, p.5876-5882
• Main Authors: Chen, Yulong, Lv, Xinyuan, Liu, Ruihan, Cui, Xuefeng, Ye, Fang, Cheng, Laifei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: High temperature; SiC whisker; Water-oxygen corrosion; Yttrium-modified SiC matrix
• ISSN: 2238-7854
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmrt.2023.04.150

The thermos-structural materials with high strength and high temperature water-oxygen corrosion resistance are urgently needed in aero-space fields. SiC whisker reinforced SiC matrix (SiCw/SiC) composites are the ideal candidate materials for their excellent mechanical properties and thermostability. However, the poor resistance to water-oxygen corrosion ability of SiC matrix limits their further application. In this work, a novel SiCw/SiC–Si–Y composites were first prepared by infiltrating silicon-yttrium (Si–Y) alloy into SiCw/C preform via reactive melt infiltration method. The as-obtained composites not only show the excellent mechanical properties (σF = 363 MPa, KⅠC = 9.14 MPa m1/2), and more importantly after water-oxygen corrosion of 20 h at such temperature as high as 1500 °C, the strength and toughness retention of the composites can reach 106.1% and 103.6%, respectively. The SiCw/SiC–Si–Y composites developed in this paper have a great potential as a new high-performance thermos-structural material for aero-space applications.