PROCESS OF PRODUCING CERAMIC MATRIX COMPOSITES AND CERAMIC MATRIX COMPOSITES FORMED THEREBY

• US 20130167374A1
• Filed: 11/26/2012
• Published: 07/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Kirby, Glen Harold, Steibel, James Dale, Goss, Nathaniel David
• Application Number:
  US13/685,038
• Publication Number:
  US 20130167374A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 29/888.02
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 18/00 Layered products essentially comprising ceramics, e.g. refractory products
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/3418 Silicon oxide, silicic acids, or oxide forming salts thereof, e.g. silica sol, fused silica, silica fume, cristobalite, quartz or flint glass constituents C04B2235/36
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/3826 Silicon carbides
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/3839 Refractory metal carbides
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/3856 Carbonitrides, e.g. titanium carbonitride, zirconium carbonitride
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/3873 Silicon nitrides, e.g. silicon carbonitride, silicon oxynitride
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/3886 Refractory metal nitrides, e.g. vanadium nitride, tungsten nitride
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/3891 Silicides, e.g. molybdenum disilicide, iron silicide
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/3895 Non-oxides with a defined oxygen content, e.g. SiOC, TiON
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/404 Refractory metals
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/424 Carbon black
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/428 Silicon
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/48 Organic compounds becoming part of a ceramic after heat treatment, e.g. carbonising phenol resins
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/483 Si-containing organic compounds, e.g. silicone resins, (poly)silanes, (poly)siloxanes or (poly)silazanes
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/5244 Silicon carbide
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/5256 Two-dimensional, e.g. woven structures
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/5268 Orientation of the fibers
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/614 Gas infiltration of green bodies or pre-forms
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/616 Liquid infiltration of green bodies or pre-forms
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/658 Atmosphere during thermal treatment
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/6581 : Total pressure below 1 atmosphere, e.g. vacuum
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/72 : Products characterised by the absence or the low content of specific components, e.g. alkali metal free alumina ceramics
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/728 : Silicon content
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/77 : Density
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/80 : Phases present in the sintered or melt-cast ceramic products other than the main phase
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2237/341 : Silica or silicates
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2237/365 : Silicon carbide
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2237/368 : Silicon nitride
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2237/38 : Fiber or whisker reinforced
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2237/52 : Pre-treatment of the joining surfaces, e.g. cleaning, machining
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2237/525 : by heating
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2237/61 : Joining two substrates of which at least one is porous by infiltrating the porous substrate with a liquid, such as a molten metal, causing bonding of the two substrates, e.g. joining two porous carbon substrates by infiltrating with molten silicon
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/573 : obtained by reaction sintering or recrystallisation
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/58092 : based on refractory metal silicides
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/591 : obtained by reaction sintering
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/6286 : Carbides
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/62863 : Silicon carbide
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/62865 : Nitrides
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/62868 : Boron nitride
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/62871 : Silicon nitride
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/62894 : with more than one coating layer
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/64 : Burning or sintering processes C04B33/32 takes precedence ; powder metallurgy B22F
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/80 : Fibres, filaments, whiskers, platelets, or the like
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 25/00 : Component parts, details, or accessories, not provided for in, or of interest apart from, other groups
• CPC Class Codes: F02C 7/00 : Features, components parts, details or accessories, not provided for in, or of interest apart form groups F02C1/00 - F02C6/00; Air intakes for jet-propulsion plants controlling F02C9/00
• CPC Class Codes: F05D 2300/2261 : of silicon
• CPC Class Codes: F05D 2300/6033 : Ceramic matrix composites [CMC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 : using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49236 : Fluid pump or compressor making
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/249986 : Void-containing component contains also a solid fiber or solid particle

Abstract

A process for producing a silicon-containing CMC article. The process entails depositing one or more coating layers on silicon carbide (SiC) fibers, drawing the coated SiC fibers through a slurry to produce slurry-coated fiber material, and then processing the slurry-coated SiC fiber material to form unidirectional prepreg tapes. The tapes are stacked and then fired to yield a porous preform. The porous preform is then further densified by infiltrating the porosity therein to yield a CMC article. Infiltration can be achieved by a series of polymer infiltration and pyrolysis (PIP) steps, by melt infiltration (MI) after filling the porosity in the preform with carbon or one or more refractory metal, by chemical vapor infiltration (CVI), or by a combination of these infiltration techniques.

Claims

1. A process for producing a silicon-containing CMC article, the process comprising:

depositing one or more coating layers on silicon carbide fibers;

drawing the coated silicon carbide fibers through a slurry to produce slurry-coated fiber material;

producing unidirectional prepreg tapes from the slurry-coated fiber material;

stacking the tapes to form a preform;

firing the preform to yield a porous fired preform; and

then

densifying the porous fired preform by infiltrating porosity therein to yield a CMC article.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein the composition of the slurry comprises an approximately 1:

1 stoichiometric mixture of elemental silicon and carbon black that react during firing of the preform at temperatures of about 1430°

C. to about 1460°

C.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the composition of the slurry comprises one or more organic binders that are pyrolyzed during the firing step to form a network of carbon char.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein the composition of the slurry comprises one or more refractory materials.

5. The process of claim 4, wherein the composition of the refractory materials is chosen from the group consisting of molybdenum, molybdenum silicide (Mo₅Si₃), molybdenum carbide, molybdenum nitride, tantalum, tantalum carbide, tantalum silicide, tantalum nitride, niobium, niobium carbide, niobium silicide, niobium nitride, and combinations thereof.

6. The process of claim 1, further comprising extracting residual elemental silicon and/or low-melting silicon alloy phase within the porous fired preform prior to the densifying step.

7. The process of claim 6, wherein the residual elemental silicon and/or low-melting silicon alloy phase is extracted using a powder pack extraction process.

8. The process of claim 7, wherein the powder pack extraction process is performed with a porous material chosen from the group consisting of molybdenum, tungsten, tantalum, niobium metal, and niobium silicides.

9. The process of claim 6, wherein the residual elemental silicon and/or low-melting silicon alloy phase is extracted using a liquid phase extraction process.

10. The process of claim 6, wherein the residual elemental silicon and/or low-melting silicon alloy phase is extracted using a vaporization process.

11. The process of claim 6, further comprising densifying the porous fired preform by infiltrating the porous fired preform using a series of polymer infiltration and pyrolysis steps, melt infiltration with elemental silicon and/or one or more silicon alloys, chemical vapor infiltration, or a combination thereof.

12. The process of claim 1, further comprising heat treating the porous fired preform to remove contaminants in pore channels of the porous fired preform prior to the densifying step.

13. The process of claim 1, wherein the densifying step comprises infiltrating the porous fired preform using a series of polymer infiltration and pyrolysis steps, melt infiltration with elemental silicon and/or one or more silicon alloys, chemical vapor infiltration, or a combination thereof.

14. The process of claim 13, wherein the densifying step comprises a series of polymer infiltration and pyrolysis steps comprising a polymeric precursor that when pyrolyzed forms a ceramic chosen from the group consisting of silicon carbide, silicon nitride, silicon oxycarbide, silicon oxynitride, silicon carbonitride, silicon oxycarbonitride, and combinations thereof.

15. The process of claim 1, further comprising installing the CMC article in a gas turbine engine and subjecting the CMC article to a temperature of at least about 1480°

C.

16. The CMC article formed by the process of claim 1.

17. A CMC article comprising a ceramic matrix reinforced with coated silicon carbide fibers, the matrix comprising at least 90 vol. % silicon-based refractory compounds, up to 5 vol. % porosity, and up to 5 vol. % of one or more low-melting phases chosen from the group consisting of elemental silicon, silicon alloys, silicon-based compounds, and combinations thereof.

18. The CMC article of claim 17, wherein the silicon-based refractory compounds are chosen from the group consisting of silicon compounded with carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, molybdenum, tungsten, tantalum, niobium, and mixtures thereof.

19. The CMC article of claim 17, wherein the matrix contains less than 5 vol. % of the sum of low-melting phases and porosity.

20. The CMC article of claim 17, wherein the matrix contains less than 5 vol. % porosity and is essentially free of low-melting phases.

21. The CMC article of claim 17, wherein the CMC article is a component of a gas turbine engine.