Fabrication of silicon carbide fiber and non-woven fabric from the polycarbosilane produced using a catalytic process

Continuous polycarbosilane fiber of 15-25 mu m and non-woven felts were prepared through melt spinning and melt blowing process using PCS having a different molecular weight. The molded fiber and felt were cured either thermally or by UV-irradiation process and pyrolyzed under an inert atmosphere to convert it into an inorganic state. The conversion process of polycarbosilane fiber and felt into SiC were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, SEM and TEM. Broad diffraction peaks in XRD around 35 degrees, 60 degrees, and 73 degrees appeared to correspond beta-SiC phase and high resolution image of TEM showed the nano-crystallites among the amorphous phase. The resulted SiC fiber and felt are expected to be used in a various field of high temperature applications.