Effects of fibers and fabrication processes on mechanical properties of neutron irradiated SiC/SiC composites

T. Nozawa, T. Hinoki, Y. Katoh, A. Kohyama

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21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Radiation effects on flexural properties of SiC/SiC composites fabricated by forced thermal gradient chemical vapor infiltration (F-CVI) process, reaction sintered (RS) process and polymer impregnation and pyrolysis (PIP) process were investigated. In this study, neutron irradiation at 1073 K up to 0.4 × 1025 n/m2 (E > 0.1 MeV) was performed. For F-CVI and RS SiC/SiC, due to the irradiation damage of interphase like pyrolytic carbon and boron nitride, which were sensitive to neutron irradiation, composite stiffness was slightly decreased. On the contrary, for PIP SiC/SiC, there was no significant change in stiffness before and after irradiation. Composite strength, however, was nearly stable against high-temperature irradiation with such a low fluence, except for RS SiC/SiC, since mechanical characteristics of fiber and matrix themselves were still stable to neutron irradiation. However RS SiC/SiC had a slight reduction of flexural strength due to the severe degradation of the interface by neutron irradiation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1173-1177
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Nuclear Materials
Volume307-311
Issue number2 SUPPL.
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2002
Externally publishedYes

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