The CVD 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. 

Processing. The process requires a monofilament carbon-fiber core which is heated resistively in a tubular glass reactor shown schematically in Fig. 19.1. PI A carbon monofilament is pre-coated with a 1 pm layer of pyrolytic graphite to insure a smooth deposition surface and a constant resistivity. 1 1 SiC is then deposited by the reaction of silane and a hydrocarbon. Other precursors such as SiCl4, and CH3SiCl3 are also being investigated. A fiber cross-section is shown in Fig. 19.2.P1 

Properties. Properties of SiC fibers are shown in Table 19.2. They are similar to those of CVD boron fibers except that SiC is more refractory and less reactive than boron. CVD-SiC fibers retain much of their mechanical properties when exposed to high temperature in air up to 800°C for as long as one hour as shown in Fig. 19.3. [ 1 SiC reacts with some metals such as titanium in which case a diffusion barrier is applied to the fiber (see Sec. 2.5 below). 

Applications. Most applications of CVD SiC fibers are still in the development stage. They include the followingP k b 

Other materials besides boron and SiC with potential for CVD fiber production are being investigated. They include B4C, TiC, and TiB2 deposited on a heated core filament, generally by the hydrogen reduction of the chlorides.Typical properties of the resulting experimental fibers are shown in Table 19.3. Fiber diameter varies from 20 to 200 pm. 

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