Oxide matrix materials

Long-term damage tolerant ceramic materials being stable at high temperature, high gas pressures and velocities, and severe chemical environments are needed e.g. for efficient future gas turbine engines Recently, an oxide fiber/ oxide matrix material which aims to achieve these requirements has been developed at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The... 

Metal-Matrix Composites. A metal-matrix composite (MMC) is comprised of a metal ahoy, less than 50% by volume that is reinforced by one or more constituents with a significantly higher elastic modulus. Reinforcement materials include carbides, oxides, graphite, borides, intermetahics or even polymeric products. These materials can be used in the form of whiskers, continuous or discontinuous fibers, or particles. Matrices can be made from metal ahoys of Mg, Al, Ti, Cu, Ni or Fe. In addition, intermetahic compounds such as titanium and nickel aluminides, Ti Al and Ni Al, respectively, are also used as a matrix material (58,59). P/M MMC can be formed by a variety of full-density hot consolidation processes, including hot pressing, hot isostatic pressing, extmsion, or forging. 

Ceramic matrices are usually chosen on their merits as high temperature materials reinforcements are added to improve their toughness, reUabiUty, and damage tolerance. The matrix imparts protection to the reinforcements from chemical reaction with the high temperature environment. The principal concerns in choosing a matrix material are its high temperature properties, such as strength, oxidation resistance, and microstmctural stabiUty, and chemical compatibihty with the reinforcement. 

The reinforcing fibers are usually CVD SiC or modified aluminum oxide. A common matrix material is SiC deposited by chemical-vapor infiltration (CVI) (see Ch. 5). The CVD reaction is based on the decomposition of methyl-trichlorosilane at 1200°C. Densities approaching 90% are reported.b l Another common matrix material is Si3N4 which is deposited by isothermal CVI using the reaction of ammonia and silicon tetrachloride in hydrogen at 1100-1300°C and a total pressure of 5 torr.l" " ] The energy of fracture of such a composite is considerably higher than that of unreinforced hot-pressed silicon nitride. 

As expected, the EDS data set indicates that the polymeric matrix material (the PE-PP blend) is composed only of carbon (hydrogen is not detectable by this method). The particle, however, appears to be composed mainly of aluminum and oxygen along with small amounts of copper. The ratio of aluminum to oxygen is consistent with the chemical formula for aluminum oxide (A1203). The SEM-EDS results are consistent with aluminum oxide and traces of copper as the primary constituents of the particulate contamination. (Al2O3.3H20 is a commonly used fire-retardant additive in polymeric products.)... 

By the sol-gel-process, inorganic glassy and hybrid polymeric materials are accessible at comparatively low temperatures [1], Therefore, organic molecules or dyes can easily be incorporated into the oxide matrix. This combination is especially attractive for the development of the following devices optical filters, solid-state lasers, optical switches, nonlinear optical laser hosts, optical data storage media, and photoconductive devices and films [2]. 

The high-temperature stability of SiC-based ceramics is well-known, and therefore its composite materials have been investigated for application to high-tem-perature structural materials [19-21]. However, well-known SiC-based fibers and matrix-materials stained with alkali salt are easily oxidized at high temperatures in air [22]. This would be a serious problem when these materials are used near the ocean or in a combustion gas containing alkali elements. In particular, a silicon carbide fiber containing boron (a well-known sintering aid for SiC) over 1 wt% was extensively oxidized under the above condition. In this... 

Most structural PMCs consist of a relatively soft matrix, such as a thermosetting plastic of polyester, phenolic, or epoxy, sometimes referred to as resin-matrix composites. Some typical polymers used as matrices in PMCs are listed in Table 1.28. The list of metals used in MMCs is much shorter. Aluminum, magnesium, titanium, and iron- and nickel-based alloys are the most common (see Table 1.29). These metals are typically utilized due to their combination of low density and good mechanical properties. Matrix materials for CMCs generally fall into fonr categories glass ceramics like lithium aluminosilicate oxide ceramics like aluminnm oxide (alnmina) and mullite nitride ceramics such as silicon nitride and carbide ceramics such as silicon carbide. 

Although a majority of these composite thermistors are based upon carbon black as the conductive filler, it is difficult to control in terms of particle size, distribution, and morphology. One alternative is to use transition metal oxides such as TiO, VO2, and V2O3 as the filler. An advantage of using a ceramic material is that it is possible to easily control critical parameters such as particle size and shape. Typical polymer matrix materials include poly(methyl methacrylate) PMMA, epoxy, silicone elastomer, polyurethane, polycarbonate, and polystyrene. 

The best known heterogeneous catalysts are oxide-supported Ru, Rh, and Ni, and Ru exhibits the highest selectivity. Marked support effects are observed and Ti02 is usually found to be the best support material. Pd on zirconia and Ni on zirconia are particularly effective catalysts when prepared using amorphous Pd-Zr, Ni-Zr, and Ni-containing multicomponent alloys by controlled oxidation-reduction treatment240-242 or generated under reaction conditions.243-245 Stabilized metal nanoparticles of uniform dispersion embedded into the oxide matrix are the... 

The loss of the catalytically active surface of Raney nickel due to recrystallization is a continuously progressing process that can be retarded to some extent in Raney-nickel anodes by dispersing oxide ceramic materials like Zr02 and Ti03 in the nickel matrix. More serious is anodic oxidation for some metals additionally accompanied by dissolution of the catalyst to which even platinum is subject but which is an even more serious hazard for the less noble catalysts as silver and Raney nickel. 

Physical trapping dye molecules in sol-gel materials are reviewed elsewhere in this chapter. A comparatively recent approach is to have the dye molecules chemically bonded to the oxide matrix. This approach requires the chemical modification of the dye molecules by Si(OR )3-containing groups, i.e. the preparation of compounds (R 0)3Si—X—A, in which A is a chromophore, by the methods shown in equations 3-7. This is mostly not a trivial task, since the chromophore has to remain undisturbed. 

Recent research has explored a wide variety of filler-matrix combinations for ceramic composites. For example, scientists at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute have been studying a composite made of silicon carbide fibers embedded in a silicon carbide matrix for use in high-temperature applications, such as spacecraft components and nuclear fusion facilities. Other composites that have been tested include silicon nitride reinforcements embedded in silicon carbide matrix, carbon fibers in boron nitride matrix, silicon nitride in boron nitride, and silicon nitride in titanium nitride. Researchers are also testing other, less common filler and matrix materials in the development of new composites. These include titanium carbide (TiC), titanium boride (TiB2), chromium boride (CrB), zirconium oxide (Zr02), and lanthanum phosphate (LaP04). 

---