Silicon carbide is an outstanding ceramic material for industrial applications due to its creep resistance, chemical stability and superior modulus hardness and strength properties. Furthermore, its ease of shaping makes it suitable for high temperature use.
Reaction sintered SiC provides excellent shape capability with lower processing temperatures compared to standard sintered SiC, making the firing schedule shorter while maintaining excellent microstructure and mechanical properties.
Ballistic Armour Plates
Sintered silicon carbide’s hardness and density make it ideal for use as ballistic armour plates that shield military and law enforcement personnel from high-velocity projectiles. These plate-based systems absorb and distribute impact energy for more compact designs that maintain mobility while offering superior protection.
Under one method, finely ground powder is combined with non-oxide sintering aids and cold isostatically pressed to create a paste, then cold shaped and molded into green bodies using various biners; organosilicon being the most frequently employed. After coking at temperatures around 1450 deg C, this polymeric structure develops monolithic porous bodies with strong flexural strength and wear resistance that are the basis of the RBSC product.
Hot pressing sintering can also be used to produce RBSC, producing dense yet compacted material with or without densification aids such as aluminum nitride for densification purposes. This technique results in more fractured microstructures which allow energy absorption and back face deformation.
No matter the manufacturing process, ballistic plates must meet stringent certification standards established by NIJ. This involves extensive testing protocols designed to assess protective capabilities like resistance against penetration and back-face deformation; durability and chemical resistance evaluation are also evaluated as key considerations.
Brake Discs & Pads
Technical ceramics such as zirconia offer one of the hardest, most durable materials on the market – yet remain lightweight. That means it can withstand extreme temperatures as well as significant loads, making it an excellent material choice for brake discs and pads. Furthermore, due to its combination of low weight, hardness, stable characteristics under high pressure/temperature conditions and quasi-ductility it stands out as being ideal for high performance brake systems.
Brake discs made of sintered silicon carbide can be an expensive endeavor. Production requires approximately one month from carbon fibre and silicon resin mix that’s then moulded into disc shape before being placed under 20,000kg of pressure at 200 degrees Celsius for several hours prior to cooling off.
But the price has come down enough that super cars and railways, who take stopping trains with gravity seriously, find it attractive.
Sintered carbon-silicon carbide (C/SiC) brake discs with an oxidation resistant coating can significantly decrease braking distance by increasing contact area between rotor and friction surface of pad. The invention provides a method of manufacturing C/SiC brake preforms by mixing carbon fibers with thermosetting pitch resin, such as polyacrylonitrile-coal tar pitch blend; pressing to form green compact; pyrolyzing green compact; melt infiltrating silicon via hot injection; and finally melt-infiltrating C/SiC body with silicon.
Aircraft Turbine Components
Materials used in high-value aerospace applications, including jet engine components and optical mirrors for space telescopes, must withstand both strong forces of rotation and sliding friction. Silicon carbide is twice as hard as titanium and over 20 times harder than nickel-based superalloys – yet is considerably lighter and more durable – making it the perfect material to meet such rigorous demands.
Silicon carbide (SIC) is an inert ceramic that resists corrosion in various chemical environments, offering stable high temperature performance with superior thermal shock resistance and wear resistance properties. Furthermore, sintering of SIC produces extremely dense and strong parts with remarkable wear resistance and strength properties.
Reaction bonded and pressureless sintered SiC are both ideal materials for aerospace applications, with RBSiC being created by infiltrating liquid silicon into porous carbon or graphite preforms and reacting with it to produce silicon carbide. Sintered SiC offers greater wear resistance, thermal stability and hardness, but RBSiC stands out with lower production costs.
Pressureless sintered SiC boasts the highest purity, density and strength among densification methods, making it ideal for applications requiring precise dimensional tolerances, such as machining, grinding and lapping. Furthermore, its exceptional mechanical properties are enhanced by its unique microstructure and pore structure – such as acting as fluid reservoirs in sliding contact applications such as mechanical seal faces and product lubricated bearings.
Satellite Subsystems
Satellites are complex systems, and each subsystem must work reliably together in order to fulfill its intended function. This can be accomplished using various materials, such as sintered silicon carbide which can withstand harsh environments and extreme temperatures. Produced by infiltrating liquid silicon into a porous carbon or graphite preform and then sintering, sintered silicon carbide is known for its thermal stability allowing it to withstand high temperatures without degrading, making it perfect for aerospace applications.
Communication subsystems enable satellites to send and receive data signals such as telemetry for monitoring satellite systems health or command data for controlling spacecraft. These functions may be managed using either uplink or downlink channels, with either uplink enabling uplink data transfer and downlink transmission of command data or both as the case may be.
Attitude & Orbit Control System (AOCS). The Attitude & Orbit Control System (AOCS) of a satellite is another critical subsystem, used to manage forces that affect its position and orientation. Sensors such as star trackers, gyroscopes and magnetometers detect its current attitude; whilst actuators such as reaction wheels, gimbals and magnetic torquers may be used to adjust it.
Sintered silicon carbide’s excellent thermo-mechanical properties combined with the extensive assembly techniques employed by EADS-Astrium and ceramic manufacturer Boostec has enabled large scale, lightweight optomechanical space mirrors and structures to be produced that offer high performance accuracy optical payloads for Earth and space observation missions.
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