Abstract:
A method for preparing a refractory carbide component includes the steps of providing a carbon rich polymer precursor to silicon carbide and excess carbon, determining an amount of excess carbon in the carbon rich polymer precursor, combining the carbon rich polymer precursor with a selected amount of refractory metal to form a precursor/metal mixture, the selected amount being selected so as to provide stoichiometrically equivalent amounts of the excess carbon and the refractory metal, forming the mixture into a preform of a propulsion component, and heating the preform so as to thermally degrade the carbon rich polymer precursor to produce the silicon carbide and the excess carbon, the excess carbon and the refractory metal reacting to form refractory metal carbide and provide the refractory carbide component.
Abstract:
A method of detecting conversion quality includes the steps of providing an article having a green material and a semiconductor material, processing the green material and the semiconductor material to produce a matrix composite, and detecting a matrix composite conversion quality with the semiconductor material.
Abstract:
A method of fabricating a ceramic article includes providing a porous body that includes a plurality of fiber bundles that has an intra-bundle porosity and an inter-bundle porosity, infiltrating the intra-bundle porosity and the inter-bundle porosity with a mixture of particles in a liquid carrier, the particles having an average size selected with respect to at least the intra-bundle porosity, removing the liquid carrier from the porous body to deposit the particles in the intra-bundle porosity and in the inter-bundle porosity, infiltrating a preceramic polymer into a remaining intra-bundle porosity and a remaining inter-bundle porosity, and thermally converting the preceramic polymer to a ceramic material.
Abstract:
Disclosed is a method for providing a crystalline ceramic material. In an example, the method includes providing a silicon-containing preceramic polymer material that can be thermally converted to one or more crystalline polymorphs. The silicon-containing preceramic polymer material includes dispersed therein an effective amount of dopant particles. The silicon-containing preceramic polymer material is then thermally converted to the silicon-containing ceramic material. The effective amount of dopant particles enhance the formation of at least one of the one or more crystalline polymorphs, relative to the silicon-containing preceramic polymer without the dopant particles, with respect to at least one of formation of a selected polymorph of the one or more crystalline polymorphs formed, an amount formed of a selected polymorph of the one or more crystalline polymorphs formed, and a temperature of formation of the one or more crystalline polymorphs.
Abstract:
A method of producing a ceramic material includes heating solid silicon monoxide to provide gaseous silicon monoxide, and exposing a structure having a free-carbon-containing material to the gaseous silicon monoxide to convert free carbon of the free-carbon-containing material to silicon carbide. Also disclosed is an intermediate article that includes a solid structure having free carbon and a solid, in-situ source of silicon monoxide gas. Also disclosed is a composition that includes a polymeric carrier phase and particulate of solid silicon monoxide dispersed in the polymeric carrier phase.
Abstract:
A method of preparing a composite preform includes applying a tacky preceramic-polymer-based adhesive on a first fiber array arranging a second fiber array on the first fiber array, the adhesive holding the first and second fiber arrays together. A composite component is also disclosed.