The conversion of all carbon preforms to dense SiC by liquid infiltration can become a low-cost and reliable method to form SiC-Si composites of complex shape and high density. Reactive sintered silicon carbide (RBSC) is prepared by covering Si powder on top of 0.5-5.0 wt% Y2O3-added carbon preforms at 1,450 and 1,500°C for 2 hours; samples are analyzed to determine densification. Reactive sintering from the Y2O3-free carbon preform causes Si to be pushed to one side and cracking defects occur. However, when prepared from the Y2O3-added carbon preform, an SiC-Si composite in which Si is homogeneously distributed in the SiC matrix without cracking can be produced. Using the Si + C = SiC reaction, 3C and 6H of SiC, crystalline Si, and Y2O3 phases are detected by XRD analysis without the appearance of graphite. As the content of Y2O3 in the carbon preform increases, the prepared RBSC accelerates the SiC conversion reaction, increasing the density and decreasing the pores, resulting in densification. The dense RBSC obtained by reaction sintering at 1,500 oC for 2 hours from a carbon preform with 2.0 wt% Y2O3 added has 0.20% apparent porosity and 96.9% relative density.

The conversion of carbon preforms to dense SiC by liquid infiltration is a prospectively low-cost and reliable method of forming SiC-Si composites with complex shapes and high densities. Si powder was coated on top of a 2.0wt .% Y2O3-added carbon preform, and reaction bonded silicon carbide (RBSC) was prepared by infiltrating molten Si at 1,450oC for 1-8 h. Reactive sintering of the Y2O3-free carbon preform caused Si to be pushed to one side, thereby forming cracking defects. However, when prepared from the Y2O3-added carbon preform, a SiC-Si composite in which Si is homogeneously distributed in the SiC matrix without cracking can be produced. Using the Si + C → SiC reaction at 1,450oC, 3C and 6H SiC phases, crystalline Si, and Y2O3 were generated based on XRD analysis, without the appearance of graphite. The RBSC prepared from the Y2O3-added carbon preform was densified by increasing the density and decreasing the porosity as the holding time increased at 1,450oC. Dense RBSC, which was reaction sintered at 1,450oC for 4 h from the 2.0wt.% Y2O3-added carbon preform, had an apparent porosity of 0.11% and a relative density of 96.8%.

There are various manufacturing processes for pure SiO2 that is used as abrasives, chemicals, filters, and glasses, and in metallurgy and optical industries. In the optical fiber industry, to produce SiO2 preform, SiCl4 is utilized as a raw material. However, the combustion reaction of SiCl4 has caused critical environmental issues, such as ozone deficiency by chlorine compounds, the greenhouse effect by carbon dioxide and corrosive gas such as hydrochloric acid. Thus, finding an alternative source that does not have those environmental issues is important for the future. Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS or D4) as a chlorine free source is recently promising candidate for the SiO2 preform formation. In this study, we first conducted a vaporizer design to vaporize the OMCTS. The vaporizer for the OMCTS vaporization was produced on the basis of the results of the vaporizer design. The size of the primary particle of the SiO2 formed by OMCTS was less than 100 nm. X-ray diffraction patterns of the SiO2 indicated an amorphous phase. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis revealed the Si-O-Si bond without the -OH group.

Multidirectional reinforcement is aimed primarily at overcoming interlaminar weakness, hence a major interest lies in the mechanical properties of multidirectional carbon/carbon composites. Mechanical properties depend on the type of carbon fiber, the size of the fiber bundle, the spacing of the bundles, the angles of the bundles relative to the axes of the block, and matrix formation. In the present studies, PAN based carbon fiber preforms manufactured different size of unit cell have been prepared. Densification of these used high pressure infiltration and carbonization technique with coal tar pitch as matrix precursor was carried out. Scanning electron microscopy has been used to study the fracture behavior of composites. The size of unit cell of the preforms has considerably affected on the flexural properties as well as microstructure of the carbon/carbon composites.

The fabrication process and mechanical properties of SiC particle prefrrms with high volume fraction ranged 50∼71% were investigated to make metal matrix composites for possible applications as heat sinks in electronic packares. The SiC particle preforms with 50∼71vol% of reinforcement were fabricated by a new modified process named ball milling and pressing method. The SiC particle performs were fabricated by ball milling of SiC particles with single sized of 48m in diameter or two different size of 8m and 48min diameter, with collodal SiO2 as inorgnic binder in distilled water, and the mixed slurries were cold pressed for consolidation into final prefom. The compressive strengths og calcined SiC particle prefoms increased from 20MPa to 155MPa with increasing the content of inorganis binder, temperature and time for calcination. The increase of compressive strength of SiC particle bridge the interfaces of two neighboring SiC particles.

The fabrication process and properties of SiC particulate preforms with high volume fraction above 50% were investigated. The SiC particulate preforms were fabricated by vacuum-assisted extraction method after wet mixing of SiC particulates of 48 in diameter, as inorganic binder, cationic starch as organic binder and polyacrylamide as dispersant in distilled water. The SiC particulate preforms were consolidated by vacuum-assisted extraction, and were followed by drying and calcination. The drying processes were consisted with natural drying at for 36 hrs and forced drying at 10 for 12 hrs in order to prevent the micro-cracking of SiC particulates preform. The compressive strengths of SiC particulate preforms were dependent on the inorganic binder content, calcination temperature and calcination time. The compressive strength of SiC preform increased from 0.47 MPa to 1.79 MPa with increasing the inorganic binder content from 1% to 4% due to the increase of flocculant between the interfaces of SiC particulates. The compressive strength of SiC preform increased from 0.90 MPa to 3.21 MPa with increasing the calcination temperatures from 800 to 120 under identical calcination time of 4hrs. The compressive strength of SiC preform increased from 0.92 to 1.95 MPa with increasing the calcination time from 2 hrs to f hrs at calcination temperature of 110. The increase of compressive strength of SiC preform with increasing the calcination temperature and time is due to the formation of crystobalite phase at the interfaces of SiC particulates.

Powder forging is a combined technology of powder metallurgy and precision hot forging. Recently, the technology is developing rapidly because of its economic merits, especially in automotive part manufacturing. In the present study, the finite element technique was developed to predict density variation during P/M forging and the technique was applied to analysis of forging of a P/M connecting rod. Although deformation mode of the connecting rod was quite complex, several sections were selected and analyzed under an assumption of asymmetric or plane strain deformation. It was found that some modifications were necessary on the cross section of the beam portion. Therefore, the cross section was modified repeatedly until a satisfactory result of the analysis was obtained. On the other hand, no modifications were necessary in the ring and the pin portions. It is anticipated that the developed technique can be used to optimize preform design and manufacturing processes in P/M forging, which are highly critical to produce successful products in practice.