SELECTED THERMAL PROPERTIES OF C/Si-C-O AND C/SiC COMPOSITES OBTAINED FROM POLYMERIC PRECURSORS

The aim of this work was to investigate thermal conductivity and oxidation resistance of new ceramic matrix composites obtained by pyrolytic conversion of organosilicon polymer. Carbon fibres were used as reinforcement. As ceramic matrix substrates four types of cheap commercially available polysiloxane resins were used. The basic characteristic of the polysiloxane polymer precursors is presented in Table 1. Unidirectional reinforced composites (1D) were manufactured by liquid impregnation method. The composites were heat treated in an inert argon atmosphere up to 1000 degrees C in order to obtain C/Si-C-O composites (carbon fibre/silicon oxycarbide) and up to 1700 degrees C in order to obtain C/SiC composites (carbon fibre/silicon carbide). The characteristic of such obtained ceramic composites is shown in Table 2. Thermal conductivity of the composites were determined by comparison of heat flow by standard and investigated samples. The scheme of thermal conductivity testing set up is shown in Figure 1. Oxidation resistance was examined by mass losses of samples heated in air atmosphere at 600 degrees C for 2 h. Microstructure of the composites was observed by scanning electron microscope JEOL 5400 (SEM) with EDS accessory (LINK AN 10000 microanalyzer). Figure 2 reveals the effect of curing pressure on thermal conductivity of investigated composites. The C/Si-C-O composites cured under higher pressure have higher values of thermal conductivity in comparison with C/Si-C-O composites cured under lower pressure -the highest curing pressure the better contact between fibres and matrix, and, as a consequence, higher thermal conductivity values. Similar dependence is observed for C/SiC composites (Fig. 2). C/Si-C-O composites cured under the same pressure as C/SiC composites demonstrate higher thermal conductivity (Fig. 2). The effect of porosity on thermal conductivity of various C/Si-C-O can be seen in Figure 3. This Figure confirms that thermal conductivity of composites decreases with increasing of porosity. From the point of view of thermal conductivity values, measured according to fibres axes, the C/Si-C-O and C/SiC composite samples demonstrate medium thermal properties as insulating materials. C/Si-C-O composites represent relatively low oxidation