Fabrication and characterization of carbon-bonded carbon fiber composites with in-situ grown SiC nanowires

Abstract In order to improve the mechanical properties of CBCFCs, the CBCFCs with in-situ grown SiC nanowires (SiC NW ) were fabricated based on the chemical vapor reaction process and precursor impregnation and pyrolysis (PIP) process. The effect of multi-scaled reinforcements (micro-scaled carbon fibers and nano-scaled SiC NW ) on the mechanical properties was investigated. The phase, microstructure and fracture surface of the composites were characterized by XRD, SEM and TEM. Microstructure characterization found that the in-situ grown SiC NW randomly distributed in the matrix and formed a network structure in the CBCFCs. The carbon fibers and the SiC NW formed the multi-scaled reinforcements can significantly improve the mechanical properties of CBCFCs. More importantly, the orientation anisotropy on mechanical properties of the composites is also obviously deceased due to the in-situ grown SiC NW . The improved mechanical properties and decreased orientation anisotropy could be attributed to the pull-out and bridging of carbon fibers and SiC NW , which formed multi-scaled reinforcements.