The additive manufacturing of continuous fiber composites has the advantage of a high-precision and efficient forming process,which can realize the lightweight and integrated manufacturing of complex structures.Howeve...The additive manufacturing of continuous fiber composites has the advantage of a high-precision and efficient forming process,which can realize the lightweight and integrated manufacturing of complex structures.However,many void defects exist between layers in the printing process of additive manufacturing;consequently,the bonding performance between layers is poor.The bonding neck is considered a key parameter for representing the quality of interfacial bonding.In this study,the formation mechanism of the bonding neck was comprehensively analyzed.First,the influence of the nozzle and basement temperatures on the printing performance and bonding neck size was measured.Second,CT scanning was used to realize the quantitative characterization of bonding neck parameters,and the reason behind the deviation of actual measurements from theoretical calculations was analyzed.When the nozzle temperature increased from 180 to 220℃,CT measurement showed that the bonding neck diameter increased from 0.29 to 0.34 mm,and the cross-sectional porosity reduced from 5.48%to 3.22%.Finally,the fracture mechanism was studied,and the influence of the interfacial bonding quality on the destruction process of the materials was determined.In conclusion,this study can assist in optimizing the process parameters,which improves the precision of the printing parts and performance between the layers.展开更多
In this study,C_(f)/SiC composites with excellent mechanical and thermal properties were prepared by combining binder jetting(BJ)additive manufacturing with liquid silicon infiltration(LSI)process.The introduction of ...In this study,C_(f)/SiC composites with excellent mechanical and thermal properties were prepared by combining binder jetting(BJ)additive manufacturing with liquid silicon infiltration(LSI)process.The introduction of C_(f)into the C_(f)/SiC mixed powder reduced its spreading ability,which reduced the density,strength,and precision of the C_(f)/SiC green parts.However,phenolic resin infiltration and pyrolysis(PRIP)treatment compensated for the decrease in the density of the green parts resulting from the introduction of C_(f).By optimizing the number of PRIP cycles to increase the pyrolytic carbon(PyC)content in the carbonized parts,the C_(f)in the green parts successfully prevented the reaction with molten Si in the LSI and played an important role in strengthening and toughening the composites.The flexural strength,fracture toughness,and thermal conductivity of the C_(f)/SiC composites reached the maximum values of 316±16 MPa,4.81±0.12 MPa·m1/2,and 140 W/m·K,respectively.This study presents future opportunities for the cost-effective and efficient industrial manufacturing of C_(f)/SiC complex structures.展开更多
Continuous basalt fiber(CBF)is an outstanding inorganic fiber produced from nature,which has a wide range of applications in the field of armor protection of national defense military.However,the mechanical response a...Continuous basalt fiber(CBF)is an outstanding inorganic fiber produced from nature,which has a wide range of applications in the field of armor protection of national defense military.However,the mechanical response and failure mechanism of 3D printed CBF reinforced components are still not well understood.Here,the 3D printing thermoplastic composites with high volume fraction CBF have been successfully prepared by fused deposition modelling(FDM)method.The effects of fiber printing direction and polymer matrix type on the tensile and flexural properties of the 3D printed composites have been explored,and the detailed failure morphology has been characterized using scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy.It was found that under high fiber volume fraction,3D printed CBF reinforced polyamides(PA)composites have the best ability to maintain material integrity of the composites,followed by acrylonitrile butadiene styrene(ABS)and high impact polystyrene(HIPS).Besides,the results from rule of mixtures can accurately predict the longitudinal Young’s modulus of the 3D printed specimens,but there exists a large discrepancy for the prediction of the tensile strength.The microstructure analysis shows that the failure modes of 3D printed composites mainly include fiber debonding,fiber pull-out,stress whitening and matrix cracking.展开更多
The application of continuous natural fibers as reinforcement in composite thin-walled structures offers a feasible approach to achieve light weight and high strength while remaining environmentally friendly.In additi...The application of continuous natural fibers as reinforcement in composite thin-walled structures offers a feasible approach to achieve light weight and high strength while remaining environmentally friendly.In addition,additive manufacturing technology provides a favorable process foundation for its realization.In this study,the printability and energy absorption properties of 3D printed continuous fiber reinforced thin-walled structures with different configurations were investigated.The results suggested that a low printing speed and a proper layer thickness would mitigate the printing defects within the structures.The printing geometry accuracy of the structures could be further improved by rounding the sharp corners with appropriate radii.This study successfully fabricated structures with vari-ous configurations characterized by high geometric accuracy through printing parameters optimization and path smoothing.Moreover,the compressive property and energy absorption characteristics of the structures under quasi-static axial compression were evaluated and compared.It was found that all studied thin-walled structures exhibited progressive folding deformation patterns during compression.In particular,energy absorption process was achieved through the combined damage modes of plastic deformation,fiber pullout and delamination.Furthermore,the com-parison results showed that the hexagonal structure exhibited the best energy absorption performance.The study revealed the structure-mechanical property relationship of 3D printed continuous fiber reinforced composite thin-walled structures through the analysis of multiscale failure characteristics and load response,which is valuable for broadening their applications.展开更多
Fiber-reinforced composites are an ideal material for the lightweight design of aerospace structures. Especially in recent years, with the rapid development of composite additive manufacturing technology, the design o...Fiber-reinforced composites are an ideal material for the lightweight design of aerospace structures. Especially in recent years, with the rapid development of composite additive manufacturing technology, the design optimization of variable stiffness of fiber-reinforced composite laminates has attracted widespread attention from scholars and industry. In these aerospace composite structures, numerous cutout panels and shells serve as access points for maintaining electrical, fuel, and hydraulic systems. The traditional fiber-reinforced composite laminate subtractive drilling manufacturing inevitably faces the problems of interlayer delamination, fiber fracture, and burr of the laminate. Continuous fiber additive manufacturing technology offers the potential for integrated design optimization and manufacturing with high structural performance. Considering the integration of design and manufacturability in continuous fiber additive manufacturing, the paper proposes linear and nonlinear filtering strategies based on the Normal Distribution Fiber Optimization (NDFO) material interpolation scheme to overcome the challenge of discrete fiber optimization results, which are difficult to apply directly to continuous fiber additive manufacturing. With minimizing structural compliance as the objective function, the proposed approach provides a strategy to achieve continuity of discrete fiber paths in the variable stiffness design optimization of composite laminates with regular and irregular holes. In the variable stiffness design optimization model, the number of candidate fiber laying angles in the NDFO material interpolation scheme is considered as design variable. The sensitivity information of structural compliance with respect to the number of candidate fiber laying angles is obtained using the analytical sensitivity analysis method. Based on the proposed variable stiffness design optimization method for complex perforated composite laminates, the numerical examples consider the variable stiffness design optimization of typical non-perforated and perforated composite laminates with circular, square, and irregular holes, and systematically discuss the number of candidate discrete fiber laying angles, discrete fiber continuous filtering strategies, and filter radius on structural compliance, continuity, and manufacturability. The optimized discrete fiber angles of variable stiffness laminates are converted into continuous fiber laying paths using a streamlined process for continuous fiber additive manufacturing. Meanwhile, the optimized non-perforated and perforated MBB beams after discrete fiber continuous treatment, are manufactured using continuous fiber co-extrusion additive manufacturing technology to verify the effectiveness of the variable stiffness fiber optimization framework proposed in this paper.展开更多
The use of composite sandwich structures with cellular cores is prevalent in lightweight designs owing to their superior energy-absorbing abilities.However,current manufacturing processes,such as hot-press molding and...The use of composite sandwich structures with cellular cores is prevalent in lightweight designs owing to their superior energy-absorbing abilities.However,current manufacturing processes,such as hot-press molding and mold pressing,require multiple steps and complex tools,thus limiting the exploration of advanced sandwich structure designs.This study reports a novel multi-material additive manufacturing(AM)process that allows the single-step production of continuous fiber-reinforced polymer composite(CFRPC)sandwich structures with multiscale cellular cores.Specifically,the integration of CFRPC-AM and in situ foam AM processes provides effective and efficient fabrication of CFRPC panels and multiscale cellular cores with intricate designs.The cellular core design spans three levels:microcellular,unit-cell,and graded structures.Sandwich structures with a diverse set of unit-cell designs,that is,rhombus,square,honeycomb,and re-entrant honeycomb,were fabricated and their flexural behaviors were studied experimentally.The results showed that the sandwich structure with a rhombus core design possessed the highest flexural stiffness,strength,and specific energy absorption.In addition,the effect of the unit-cell assembly on the flexural performance of the CFRP composite sandwich structure was examined.The proposed design and fabrication methods open new avenues for constructing novel and high-performance CFRPC structures with multiscale cellular cores that cannot be obtained using existing approaches.展开更多
Silicon oxycarbide composites reinforced by three-dimensional braided carbon fiber （3D-B Cf/Si-O-C） were fabricated via precursor infiltration and pyrolysis of polysiloxane, and the effects of processing variables o...Silicon oxycarbide composites reinforced by three-dimensional braided carbon fiber （3D-B Cf/Si-O-C） were fabricated via precursor infiltration and pyrolysis of polysiloxane, and the effects of processing variables on mechanical properties and microstructures of 3D-B Cf/Si-O-C composites were investigated. It is found that the mechanical properties and densities of 3D-B Cf/Si-O-C composites can be increased if the first pyrolysis cycle is assisted by hot-pressing. Pyrolysis temperature has great effects on mechanical properties and microstructures of 3D-B Cf/Si-O-C composites. The composite, which is hot-pressed at 1 600 ℃ for 5 min with pressure of 10 MPa in the first pyrolysis cycle, exhibits high mechanical properties: bending strength 502 MPa and fracture toughness 23.7 MPa·m1/2. The high mechanical properties are mainly attributed to desirable interfacial structure and high density.展开更多
Recent developments in additive manufacturing techniques have facilitated the fabrication of fiberreinforced composite materials.In this paper,the mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms of discontinuous and ...Recent developments in additive manufacturing techniques have facilitated the fabrication of fiberreinforced composite materials.In this paper,the mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms of discontinuous and continuous fiber-reinforced composites fabricated by various additive manufacturing techniques are comprehensively reviewed.The effects of fiber type,orientation and weight/volume fraction,printing path,and stacking sequence on the mechanical properties of additively manufactured composites are discussed.In addition,the applications of additively manufactured composites,the main challenges of the current additive manufacturing techniques,and recommendations for future work are also presented.展开更多
Continuous fiber reinforced polymer composites(CFRPC)have been widely used in the field of automobile,air-craft,and space due to light weight,high specific strength and modulus in comparison with metal as well as allo...Continuous fiber reinforced polymer composites(CFRPC)have been widely used in the field of automobile,air-craft,and space due to light weight,high specific strength and modulus in comparison with metal as well as alloys.Innovation on 3D printing of CFRPCs opened a new era for the design and fabrication of complicated composite structure with high performance and low cost.3D printing of CFRPCs provided an enabling technol-ogy to bridge the gaps between advanced materials and innovative structures.State-of-art has been reviewed according to the correlations of materials,structure,process,and performance as well as functions in 3D printing of CFRPCs.Typical applications and future perspective for 3D printing of CFRPCs were illustrated in order to grasp the opportunities and face the challenges,which need much more interdisciplinary researches covering the advanced materials,process and equipment,structural design,and final smart performance.展开更多
In this work,pitch-based carbon fibers were utilized to reinforce silicon carbide(SiC)composites via reaction melting infiltration(RMI)method by controlling the reaction temperature and resin carbon content.Thermal co...In this work,pitch-based carbon fibers were utilized to reinforce silicon carbide(SiC)composites via reaction melting infiltration(RMI)method by controlling the reaction temperature and resin carbon content.Thermal conductivities and bending strengths of composites obtained under different preparation conditions were characterized by various analytical methods.Results showed the formation of SiC whiskers(SiC_(w))during RMI process according to vapor–solid(VS)mechanism.SiC_(w) played an important role in toughening the C_(pf)/SiC composites due to crack bridging,crack deflection,and SiC_(w) pull-out.Increase in reaction temperature during RMI process led to an initial increase in thermal conductivity along in-plane and thickness directions of composites,followed by a decline.At reaction temperature of 1600℃,thermal conductivities along the in-plane and thickness directions were estimated to be 203.00 and 39.59 W/(m×K),respectively.Under these conditions,bending strength was recorded as 186.15±3.95 MPa.Increase in resin carbon content before RMI process led to the generation of more SiC matrix.Thermal conductivities along in-plane and thickness directions remained stable with desirable values of 175.79 and 38.86 W/(m×K),respectively.By comparison,optimal bending strength improved to 244.62±3.07 MPa.In sum,these findings look promising for future application of pitch-based carbon fibers for reinforcement of SiC ceramic composites.展开更多
基金Supported by National Key R&D Program of China(Grant No.2017YFB1103400).
文摘The additive manufacturing of continuous fiber composites has the advantage of a high-precision and efficient forming process,which can realize the lightweight and integrated manufacturing of complex structures.However,many void defects exist between layers in the printing process of additive manufacturing;consequently,the bonding performance between layers is poor.The bonding neck is considered a key parameter for representing the quality of interfacial bonding.In this study,the formation mechanism of the bonding neck was comprehensively analyzed.First,the influence of the nozzle and basement temperatures on the printing performance and bonding neck size was measured.Second,CT scanning was used to realize the quantitative characterization of bonding neck parameters,and the reason behind the deviation of actual measurements from theoretical calculations was analyzed.When the nozzle temperature increased from 180 to 220℃,CT measurement showed that the bonding neck diameter increased from 0.29 to 0.34 mm,and the cross-sectional porosity reduced from 5.48%to 3.22%.Finally,the fracture mechanism was studied,and the influence of the interfacial bonding quality on the destruction process of the materials was determined.In conclusion,this study can assist in optimizing the process parameters,which improves the precision of the printing parts and performance between the layers.
基金supported by National Defense Basic Scientific Research Program of China(Grant No.JCKY2022213C008)Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China(Grant No.YCJJ20230353)。
文摘In this study,C_(f)/SiC composites with excellent mechanical and thermal properties were prepared by combining binder jetting(BJ)additive manufacturing with liquid silicon infiltration(LSI)process.The introduction of C_(f)into the C_(f)/SiC mixed powder reduced its spreading ability,which reduced the density,strength,and precision of the C_(f)/SiC green parts.However,phenolic resin infiltration and pyrolysis(PRIP)treatment compensated for the decrease in the density of the green parts resulting from the introduction of C_(f).By optimizing the number of PRIP cycles to increase the pyrolytic carbon(PyC)content in the carbonized parts,the C_(f)in the green parts successfully prevented the reaction with molten Si in the LSI and played an important role in strengthening and toughening the composites.The flexural strength,fracture toughness,and thermal conductivity of the C_(f)/SiC composites reached the maximum values of 316±16 MPa,4.81±0.12 MPa·m1/2,and 140 W/m·K,respectively.This study presents future opportunities for the cost-effective and efficient industrial manufacturing of C_(f)/SiC complex structures.
基金the financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China(grant no.2020YFA0711800)National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant no.11802027)+2 种基金State Key Laboratory of Explosion Science and Technology(grant no.YPJH20-6,QNKT20-01,JCRC18-01)BITBRFFR Joint Research Program(BITBLR2020018)Beijing Institute of Technology Research Fund。
文摘Continuous basalt fiber(CBF)is an outstanding inorganic fiber produced from nature,which has a wide range of applications in the field of armor protection of national defense military.However,the mechanical response and failure mechanism of 3D printed CBF reinforced components are still not well understood.Here,the 3D printing thermoplastic composites with high volume fraction CBF have been successfully prepared by fused deposition modelling(FDM)method.The effects of fiber printing direction and polymer matrix type on the tensile and flexural properties of the 3D printed composites have been explored,and the detailed failure morphology has been characterized using scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy.It was found that under high fiber volume fraction,3D printed CBF reinforced polyamides(PA)composites have the best ability to maintain material integrity of the composites,followed by acrylonitrile butadiene styrene(ABS)and high impact polystyrene(HIPS).Besides,the results from rule of mixtures can accurately predict the longitudinal Young’s modulus of the 3D printed specimens,but there exists a large discrepancy for the prediction of the tensile strength.The microstructure analysis shows that the failure modes of 3D printed composites mainly include fiber debonding,fiber pull-out,stress whitening and matrix cracking.
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.51905555,52105523)Hu-Xiang Youth Talent Program of China(Grant No.2020RC3009)Innovation-Driven Project of Central South University of China(Grant No.2019CX017).
文摘The application of continuous natural fibers as reinforcement in composite thin-walled structures offers a feasible approach to achieve light weight and high strength while remaining environmentally friendly.In addition,additive manufacturing technology provides a favorable process foundation for its realization.In this study,the printability and energy absorption properties of 3D printed continuous fiber reinforced thin-walled structures with different configurations were investigated.The results suggested that a low printing speed and a proper layer thickness would mitigate the printing defects within the structures.The printing geometry accuracy of the structures could be further improved by rounding the sharp corners with appropriate radii.This study successfully fabricated structures with vari-ous configurations characterized by high geometric accuracy through printing parameters optimization and path smoothing.Moreover,the compressive property and energy absorption characteristics of the structures under quasi-static axial compression were evaluated and compared.It was found that all studied thin-walled structures exhibited progressive folding deformation patterns during compression.In particular,energy absorption process was achieved through the combined damage modes of plastic deformation,fiber pullout and delamination.Furthermore,the com-parison results showed that the hexagonal structure exhibited the best energy absorption performance.The study revealed the structure-mechanical property relationship of 3D printed continuous fiber reinforced composite thin-walled structures through the analysis of multiscale failure characteristics and load response,which is valuable for broadening their applications.
基金supports for this research were provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.12272301,12002278,U1906233)the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation,China(Nos.2023A1515011970,2024A1515010256)+1 种基金the Dalian City Supports Innovation and Entrepreneurship Projects for High-Level Talents,China(2021RD16)the Key R&D Project of CSCEC,China(No.CSCEC-2020-Z-4).
文摘Fiber-reinforced composites are an ideal material for the lightweight design of aerospace structures. Especially in recent years, with the rapid development of composite additive manufacturing technology, the design optimization of variable stiffness of fiber-reinforced composite laminates has attracted widespread attention from scholars and industry. In these aerospace composite structures, numerous cutout panels and shells serve as access points for maintaining electrical, fuel, and hydraulic systems. The traditional fiber-reinforced composite laminate subtractive drilling manufacturing inevitably faces the problems of interlayer delamination, fiber fracture, and burr of the laminate. Continuous fiber additive manufacturing technology offers the potential for integrated design optimization and manufacturing with high structural performance. Considering the integration of design and manufacturability in continuous fiber additive manufacturing, the paper proposes linear and nonlinear filtering strategies based on the Normal Distribution Fiber Optimization (NDFO) material interpolation scheme to overcome the challenge of discrete fiber optimization results, which are difficult to apply directly to continuous fiber additive manufacturing. With minimizing structural compliance as the objective function, the proposed approach provides a strategy to achieve continuity of discrete fiber paths in the variable stiffness design optimization of composite laminates with regular and irregular holes. In the variable stiffness design optimization model, the number of candidate fiber laying angles in the NDFO material interpolation scheme is considered as design variable. The sensitivity information of structural compliance with respect to the number of candidate fiber laying angles is obtained using the analytical sensitivity analysis method. Based on the proposed variable stiffness design optimization method for complex perforated composite laminates, the numerical examples consider the variable stiffness design optimization of typical non-perforated and perforated composite laminates with circular, square, and irregular holes, and systematically discuss the number of candidate discrete fiber laying angles, discrete fiber continuous filtering strategies, and filter radius on structural compliance, continuity, and manufacturability. The optimized discrete fiber angles of variable stiffness laminates are converted into continuous fiber laying paths using a streamlined process for continuous fiber additive manufacturing. Meanwhile, the optimized non-perforated and perforated MBB beams after discrete fiber continuous treatment, are manufactured using continuous fiber co-extrusion additive manufacturing technology to verify the effectiveness of the variable stiffness fiber optimization framework proposed in this paper.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.52105261)Shenzhen Science and Technology Inno-vation Committee of China(Grant No.JCYJ20210324104610028)Department of Education of Guangdong Province of China(Grant No.2022ZDZX3020).
文摘The use of composite sandwich structures with cellular cores is prevalent in lightweight designs owing to their superior energy-absorbing abilities.However,current manufacturing processes,such as hot-press molding and mold pressing,require multiple steps and complex tools,thus limiting the exploration of advanced sandwich structure designs.This study reports a novel multi-material additive manufacturing(AM)process that allows the single-step production of continuous fiber-reinforced polymer composite(CFRPC)sandwich structures with multiscale cellular cores.Specifically,the integration of CFRPC-AM and in situ foam AM processes provides effective and efficient fabrication of CFRPC panels and multiscale cellular cores with intricate designs.The cellular core design spans three levels:microcellular,unit-cell,and graded structures.Sandwich structures with a diverse set of unit-cell designs,that is,rhombus,square,honeycomb,and re-entrant honeycomb,were fabricated and their flexural behaviors were studied experimentally.The results showed that the sandwich structure with a rhombus core design possessed the highest flexural stiffness,strength,and specific energy absorption.In addition,the effect of the unit-cell assembly on the flexural performance of the CFRP composite sandwich structure was examined.The proposed design and fabrication methods open new avenues for constructing novel and high-performance CFRPC structures with multiscale cellular cores that cannot be obtained using existing approaches.
文摘Silicon oxycarbide composites reinforced by three-dimensional braided carbon fiber （3D-B Cf/Si-O-C） were fabricated via precursor infiltration and pyrolysis of polysiloxane, and the effects of processing variables on mechanical properties and microstructures of 3D-B Cf/Si-O-C composites were investigated. It is found that the mechanical properties and densities of 3D-B Cf/Si-O-C composites can be increased if the first pyrolysis cycle is assisted by hot-pressing. Pyrolysis temperature has great effects on mechanical properties and microstructures of 3D-B Cf/Si-O-C composites. The composite, which is hot-pressed at 1 600 ℃ for 5 min with pressure of 10 MPa in the first pyrolysis cycle, exhibits high mechanical properties: bending strength 502 MPa and fracture toughness 23.7 MPa·m1/2. The high mechanical properties are mainly attributed to desirable interfacial structure and high density.
基金the financial support through a postgraduate research scholarship from the Australian Government’s Automotive Engineering Graduate Program (No. AEGP000019)。
文摘Recent developments in additive manufacturing techniques have facilitated the fabrication of fiberreinforced composite materials.In this paper,the mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms of discontinuous and continuous fiber-reinforced composites fabricated by various additive manufacturing techniques are comprehensively reviewed.The effects of fiber type,orientation and weight/volume fraction,printing path,and stacking sequence on the mechanical properties of additively manufactured composites are discussed.In addition,the applications of additively manufactured composites,the main challenges of the current additive manufacturing techniques,and recommendations for future work are also presented.
基金supported by National Key R&D Program of China(Grant No.2018YFE0207900)National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.52075422)+1 种基金K C Wong Education FoundationThe Youth Innovation Team of Shaanxi Universities.
文摘Continuous fiber reinforced polymer composites(CFRPC)have been widely used in the field of automobile,air-craft,and space due to light weight,high specific strength and modulus in comparison with metal as well as alloys.Innovation on 3D printing of CFRPCs opened a new era for the design and fabrication of complicated composite structure with high performance and low cost.3D printing of CFRPCs provided an enabling technol-ogy to bridge the gaps between advanced materials and innovative structures.State-of-art has been reviewed according to the correlations of materials,structure,process,and performance as well as functions in 3D printing of CFRPCs.Typical applications and future perspective for 3D printing of CFRPCs were illustrated in order to grasp the opportunities and face the challenges,which need much more interdisciplinary researches covering the advanced materials,process and equipment,structural design,and final smart performance.
基金This work is supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(No.2018YFB1106600)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.51602257,92060202,51872229,and 51972269)+2 种基金the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing(Wuhan University of Technology,No.2021-KF-10)the Creative Research Foundation of the Science and Technology on Thermostructural Composite Materials Laboratory(No.JCKYS2020607001)the Shaanxi Province Foundation for Natural Science(No.2020JQ-169).
文摘In this work,pitch-based carbon fibers were utilized to reinforce silicon carbide(SiC)composites via reaction melting infiltration(RMI)method by controlling the reaction temperature and resin carbon content.Thermal conductivities and bending strengths of composites obtained under different preparation conditions were characterized by various analytical methods.Results showed the formation of SiC whiskers(SiC_(w))during RMI process according to vapor–solid(VS)mechanism.SiC_(w) played an important role in toughening the C_(pf)/SiC composites due to crack bridging,crack deflection,and SiC_(w) pull-out.Increase in reaction temperature during RMI process led to an initial increase in thermal conductivity along in-plane and thickness directions of composites,followed by a decline.At reaction temperature of 1600℃,thermal conductivities along the in-plane and thickness directions were estimated to be 203.00 and 39.59 W/(m×K),respectively.Under these conditions,bending strength was recorded as 186.15±3.95 MPa.Increase in resin carbon content before RMI process led to the generation of more SiC matrix.Thermal conductivities along in-plane and thickness directions remained stable with desirable values of 175.79 and 38.86 W/(m×K),respectively.By comparison,optimal bending strength improved to 244.62±3.07 MPa.In sum,these findings look promising for future application of pitch-based carbon fibers for reinforcement of SiC ceramic composites.
