Abstract
The preliminary results of hyperspectral neutron radiography of Si–SiC made with binder jet additive manufacturing, subsequent carbon addition, and silicon melt infiltration are presented. The samples were measured in the processing states before and after the melt infiltration to determine if neutrons would help characterize the microstructure to better understand the melt infiltration process. Theoretical Bragg edges were calculated for comparison with the radiographic results. The changes in the Bragg edges from pre- to post-infiltrated reaction-bonded SiC were evident, that could be used to address the differences in microstructures. The preliminary results presented in this study demonstrated that neutron Bragg-edge imaging is possible with Si–SiC reaction-bonded ceramics and can help determine the microstructure of melt infiltrated samples.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e70109 |
| Journal | International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2026 |
Funding
A portion of this research used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The beam time was allocated to SNAP (beamline 3) and VENUS (beamline 10) on proposal numbers IPTS-23760 and IPTS-34808, respectively. The team thanks Mr. Kevin Yahne for providing the zoomed-in sample photographs. The research was also done under the DOE's Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Office under the award number DE-EE0009117 titled “Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing of Novel Design, High Temperature, Ceramic Heat Exchangers.” This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle LLC under contract number DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). A portion of this research used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The beam time was allocated to SNAP (beamline 3) and VENUS (beamline 10) on proposal numbers IPTS‐23760 and IPTS‐34808, respectively. The team thanks Mr. Kevin Yahne for providing the zoomed‐in sample photographs. The research was also done under the DOE's Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Office under the award number DE‐EE0009117 titled “Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing of Novel Design, High Temperature, Ceramic Heat Exchangers.” This manuscript has been authored by UT‐Battelle LLC under contract number DE‐AC05‐00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non‐exclusive, paid‐up, irrevocable, world‐wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe‐public‐access‐plan ).
Keywords
- SiC
- binder jet technology
- neutron imaging
- radiography
- reactive melt infiltration