Ceramic fibers production scheme

A brief patent by Smith115 reports the Pt-catalyzed ring-opening polymerization of 1,3-disilacyclobutane in heptane or toluene to produce a linear PSE structure which, when pyrolyzed to 900 °C, gave SiC in 85% ceramic yield. The patent claims that the PSE can be processed and then pyrolyzed to give SiC fibers, films and molded shapes. However, neither the syntheses of 1,3-disilacyclobutane (from l,l,3,3-tetrachloro-l,3-disilacyclobutane, Scheme 11) or PSE, nor ceramic product characterization (beyond brief IR claims) are provided. 

Textile test specimens vary widely in both physical and chemical characteristics however, most samples can be characterized without any special preparation. Usual samples include fibers, yarns, and fabrics that can be presented directly to most commercial spectrophotometers. It is important to realize that variability within the textile sample is fairly high. A statistical sampling scheme is necessary to achieve a fair representation of a production lot. In the case of fabric samples, several layers of fabric or an appropriate background, such as ceramic or Teflon tile, will be necessary to create diffuse reflectance or transreflectance signals. Textile yarns and fabrics have bidirectional orientations and, hence, either a rotational sample cup or at least three rotations of the stationary cup are necessary to compensate for the differences owing to the sample orientation. Another difficulty with the textile fabrics is that they are usually dyed with various dark or pastel colors. Black and gray samples are more difficult to measure however, using appropriate procedure dyed fabrics are analyzed quite frequently. It is not uncommon to use separate calibrations for (i) white or pastel, (ii) medium shade, and (iii) dark color samples. 

---