Development of Si-M-C-(O) fiber from a new pre-ceramic polymer prepared by the reaction between polycarbosilane and the sol-gel-derived oxide sol

A new SiC-based continuous fiber containing a small amount of sol-gel-derived oxide material(zircon) has been developed. The new inorganic continuous fiber has a better oxidation resistance in dry and wet air at high temperatures than those of the current SiC-based continuous fibers (Tyranno ZMI). The precursor polymer was prepared by polymerizing the current precursor polymer with a sol-gel-derived alcoholic solution. The production process of the newly developed Si-M-C-(O) fiber (Tyranno ZX) from its precursor polymer was almost the same as that of the currently available Tyranno Fiber (ZMI). Although the productivity is open to improvement, fiber diameter, tensile strength and tensile modulus of Tyranno ZX fiber were 11 mum, 3.0 GPa and 190 GPa, respectively. The oxidation resistance of Tyranno ZX at 1273-1773 K in wet air was excellent, compared to the current polymer-derived SiC-based fiber (Tyranno ZMI). Since the addition of an oxide material to the SiC-based fibers was shown to improve the fiber properties, we are currently investigating the addition of other oxide material, Al2O3, in order to achieve fibers with much higher thermal stability by using the sol-gel method.