Processing and Performance of Continuous Fiber Ceramic Composites by Preceramic Polymer Pyrolysis: I—Filament Winding

Abstract

Continuous Fiber Ceramic Composite (CFCC) tubes have been manufactured using cure-on-the-fly and no cure-on-the-fly filament winding by preceramic polymer pyrolysis route. Processing guidelines to effectively use the cure-on-the-fly filament winding technique for the manufacture of CFCCs are introduced in this paper. The preceramic polymer used in thiswork is Blackglas™ (a siloxane polymer). Afilament winding machine was designed to adapt to the brittle nature of the fibers and the relatively low temperature cure of the polymer. Seven reinfiltration/pyrolysis cycles, with about 17 hours per cycle, were necessary to reach a convergence by weight. C-ring tests at both room and high temperature were performed to assess the quality of the manufactured parts. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to further examine the microstructure and quality of the parts. Effects of infrared cure-on-the-fly, fiber coating/material system, part thickness, and service temperature on the processing and mechanical performance of the manufactured CFCCs were studied.