Structural control aiming for high-performance SiC polycrystalline fiber

Abstract

SiC-polycrystalline fiber (Tyranno SA, Ube Industries, Ltd.) shows very high heat-resistance and excellent mechanical properties up to very high temperatures. However, further increase in the strength is required. Up to now, we have already clarified the relationship between the strength and the defect-size of the SiC-polycrystalline fiber. The defects are formed during the conversion process from the raw material (amorphous Si-Al-C-O fiber) into SiC-polycrystalline fiber. In this conversion process, a degradation of the Si-Al-C-O fiber and a subsequent sintering of the degraded fiber proceed as well, accompanied by a release of CO gas and compositional changes, to obtain the dense SiC-polycrystalline fiber. Since these changes proceed in each filament, the strict control should be needed to minimize residual defects on the surface and in the inside of each filament for achieving the higher strength. In this paper, the controlling factors of the fiber strength and the fine structure will appear.