Preparation of reaction-bonded silicon carbide with well controlled structure by tape casting method

Abstract Tape casting is a reliable and cost effective method for producing thin ceramic sheets with uniform and tailored microstructures, especially for multilayered composite materials. In this paper, SiC/C tapes were prepared by tape casting method. After lamination and binder removal, porous preforms with homogeneous microstructure and narrow pore sizes distribution were developed. Then, dense reaction bonded SiC ceramics (RBSCs) were obtained by silicon infiltration into these preforms. The highest bending strength of the RBSCs can reach 410 ± 14 MPa. Moreover, impregnation of phenolic resin into the porous preforms before silicon infiltration could help to develop RBSCs with lower residual silicon content and higher flexural strength which can be as high as 598 ± 112 MPa.