Silicon-Carbide Fibers

Seeding technique, procedure 130, 131 Sequential addition of monomers 164, 167 Silicon-carbide fibers 8 Silicon-nitride fibers 8 Silicone rubber, crosslinked 4, 7-9, 31, 67 Siloxane, definition of 5 Siloxane-acrylate copolymers 27, 29, 56, 57, 64, 70, 71, 73, 74... 

Experimental applications include the direct deposition of patterns as small as 0.5 im in semiconductor applications using holographic methods, and the production of rods and coreless boron and silicon carbide fibers (see Ch. 19). 

Figure 19.1. Apparatus for the deposition of silicon-carbide fibers.

CVD silicon carbide fibers are a recent development with prom-ising potential which may take over some of the applications of CVD boron fibers or other refractory fibers, providing that the production cost can be reduced. 

Figure 19.2. Cross section of a CVD silicon-carbide fiber, conrtesy of Textron Specialty Materials.

Figure 19.3. Tensile strength of CVD silicon-carbide fiber as a function of temperature.

AVCO Silicon Carbide Fiber, Technical Brochure, Textron, Lowell, MA 01851(1990)... 

Another process for silicon carbide fibers, developed by Verbeek and Winter of Bayer AG [45], also is based on polymeric precursors which contain [SiCH2] units, although linear polysilmethylenes are not involved. The pyrolysis of tetramethylsilane at 700°C, with provision for recycling of unconverted (CHg Si and lower boiling products, gave a polycarbosilane resin, yellow to red-brown in color, which was soluble in aromatic and in chlorinated hydrocarbons. Such resins could be melt-spun but required a cure-step to render them infusible before they were pyrolyzed to ceramic... 

Soluble polydiorganosilane homo and copolymers have recently shown great potential in such areas as precursors for the preparation of silicon carbide fibers (1), as photoinitiators in alkene polymerization (2), as photoconductors (3), and as positive or negative self-developing photoresists for photolithographic applications (4). A number of copolydiorganosilane copolymers have been reported recently (5) in which the copolymer contained equal amounts of both monomers in the feed. 

The first useful organosilicon preceramic polymer, a silicon carbide fiber precursor, was developed by S. Yajima and his coworkers at Tohoku University in Japan [5]. As might be expected on the basis of the 2 C/l Si ratio of the (CH3)2SiCl2 starting material used in this process, the ceramic fibers contain free carbon as well as silicon carbide. A typical analysis [5] showed a composition 1 SiC/0.78 C/0.22 Si02- (The latter is introduced in the oxidative cure step of the polycarbosilane fiber). 

The earliest work on silicon carbide fibers was done by Yajima and co-workers [3]. Yajima applied the Kumada [4] rearrangement to Burkhard s [5] dimethylpolysilane - an insoluble and infusible compound - (Eq. 1) and obtained by thermolysis at 400 - 450°C or by catalysis with polyborodiphenyl-siloxane at 350°C a melt spinnable and soluble polycarbosilane (Eq. 2). 

Keywords Inorganic fiber Oxide fiber Silicon carbide fiber Heat resistance Photocatalyst... 

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... 

MOCVD as, 22 153-154 in silicon carbide fiber manufacture, 22 534 thermally activated, 24 744-745 Chemical vapor infiltration (CVI), 26 767 ceramics and, 5 664 Chemical warfare, 5 813-840 defense against, 5 830-837 Chemical warfare agents, detection of, 22 716-717... 

Pyrolysis analogous to polymer carbon formation has also been applied to methylchlorodisilane. This is converted to beta silicon carbide fibers of high tenacity. 

Strife, J., Prewo, K.M. (1982). Silicon carbide fiber-reinforced resin matrix compo.sites../. Mater. Sri. 17, 65 72. 

Yajima. S., Hayashi. J., Omori, M. and Okamura, K. (1976). Development of a silicon carbide fiber with high tensile strength. Nature 261, 683-685. 

In the silicon carbide manufacturing process the major bioactive dusts identified are quartz particles and silicon carbide fibers generated in the process. In contrast to the silicon carbide fibers, silicon carbide particles were... 

Twenty-five years later, Burhard reported the preparation of permethylated. polysilane (2). These materials were, however, highly crystalline, insoluble white solids which evoked little scientific interest until recently when it was discovered that silane polymers could be used as thermal precursors to / -silicon carbide fibers (3-5). In this regard, Yajima and co-workers reported that poly (dimethyl) silane could be converted by the two-step process shown below to / -silicon carbide, a structural material of considerable industrial importance. 

Although the chemistry of the initial thermal transformation is obviously quite complex, it was determined that considerable carbon insertion into the Si-Si bonds occurs, resulting in an intermediate carbosilane which can be drawn into fibers. At this point, brief oxidation results in the formation of a surface oxide which imparts dimensional stability, and subsequent heating to 1300°C produces silicon carbide fibers (3,5). 

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