Synergistic Enhancement Mechanism of Particle Gradation and Reactive Melt Infiltration on the Mechanical Properties of Sic Ceramics Via Vat Photopolymerization
30 Pages Posted: 18 Jan 2025
Abstract
Vat photopolymerization (VPP) technology holds significant potential for fabricating high-precision SiC ceramic components with complex structures. However, SiC, as a covalently bonded compound, exhibits low sintering activity, which greatly limits the densification process and its mechanical property. In this paper, a new bimodal particle size SiC combined with reactive melt infiltration (RMI) for fabricating high-performance SiC ceramics is developed. The results shows that particle gradation slightly weakens the curing of SiC slurry but benefits the reactive infiltration process. The addition of fine particles (d50=3 μm) reduces residual silicon aggregation and promotes uniform β-SiC growth in silicon-rich regions during RMI process. As a result, the fracture mode of SiC transitions from purely intergranular fracture to a mixed mode of intergranular and transgranular fracture, significantly improving its mechanical properties. The final SiC ceramics achieve a bulk density of 2.996 g/cm3 and a maximum flexural strength of 401.33 MPa, which reflecting an approximate 86.32% improvement in strength. This method offers an effective solution for fabricating high-strength SiC ceramics with complex structures using VPP technology.
Keywords: Vat photopolymerization, SiC, Particle gradation, Reactive melt infiltration, mechanical properties
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