SIC FILAMENTS FROM A PITCH FILAMENT-SILICON SOURCE

THERE IS A WIDESPREAD USE FOR SIC FILAMENT WITH HIGH STRENGTH THEORETICAL DENSITY AND MODULUS IN A SMALL DIAMETER. CURRENT SIC FILAMENT EITHER HAS HIGH POROSITY AT 25% AND LOW STRENGTH OR IS LARGE IN DIAMETER AT 140 M. THIS PROGRAM PRPOSES TO PRODUCE ECONOMICAL HIGH STRENGTH (>500,000 PSI) SIC FILAMENTS WITH THEORETICAL DENSITY AND MODULUS FROM PITCH AND SILICON PRECURSORS. THE PROGRAM UTILIZES KNOWN TECHNOLOGY TO PRODUCE PITCH BASE FILAMENTS CONTAINING A SILICON SOURCE. A STATISTICAL EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION EXAMINES THE CONDITIONS TO PRODUCE REACTION BONDED PRESSURELESS SINTERED DENSE SIC FILAMENTS WITH A TARGET STRENGTH OF 50,000 PSI. A REACTION MODEL WILL BE DEVELOPED FROM THE STATISTICAL IMPORTANT PARAMETERS THAT WILL FORM THE BASIS OF FILAMENT IMPROVEMENT DEVELOPMENT IN PHASE II.