In this study, a thermal-gradient chemical vapor infiltration (TG-CVI) process was numerically studied in order to enhance the deposition uniformity within the preform. The computational fluid dynamics technique was used to solve the governing equations for heat transfer and gas flow during the TG-CVI process for two- and three-dimensional (2-D and 3-D) models. The temperature profiles in the 2-D and 3-D models showed good agreement with each other and with the experimental results. The densification process was investigated in a 2-D axisymmetric model. Computation results showed the distribution of the SiC deposition rate within the preform. The results also showed that using two-zone heater gave better deposition uniformity.

Abstract
 1. Introduction
 2. Analysis
  2.1. Problem description
  2.2. Modeling of densification
 3. Results and Discussion
  3.1. Temperature distribution and flow pattern
  3.2. Densification process
  3.3. Design improvement
 4. Conclusions
 Conflict of Interest
 References

• Zaher Ramadan(Department of Mechanical Design Engineering, Graduate School, Chonbuk National University)
• Ik-Tae Im(Department of Mechanical Design Engineering, College of Engineering, and Design Center for Eco-Friend Machine Parts, Chonbuk National University) Corresponding Author