Numerical and experimental investigation of infiltration behavior in porous SiC preforms

Clarifying the melt infiltration behavior is the key to improving infiltration efficiency and reducing infiltration defects, and has thus become a core task in the fabrication of ceramic matrix composites via melt infiltration. In this study, a realistic porous SiC preform model was constructed. By coupling the level set method with the Navier-Stokes equations, the evolution process of the infiltration front was accurately tracked, enabling the dynamic simulation and highly accurate prediction of the melt infiltration process with an average prediction error of less than 6% relative to the experimental results. Meanwhile, a combined method of numerical simulation and experiment was adopted to reveal the influence laws of fluid type, pore size and flow pattern on infiltration height, as well as to analyze the formation mechanism of gas entrapment and void defects induced by pore intersections and blind pore structures. This study provides a reliable analytical model for understanding the melt infiltration behavior in realistic porous preforms, and offers a theoretical basis for optimizing process parameters, suppressing defects, and improving the performance of ceramic matrix composites.