Methods for manufacturing ceramic and ceramic composite components and components made thereby

A mechanically robust ceramic or ceramic composite component for a high temperature system, the mechanically-robust ceramic or ceramic composite component prepared by a method comprising:

• reacting a fluid reactant and a porous preform that has a pore volume and contains a solid reactant compound that defines a solid volume of the porous preform, the solid volume of the porous preform including a thread having a dimension of a few hundred micrometers or less and a channel with a wall thickness of a few millimeters or less, the fluid reactant comprising at least one displacing metal and the solid reactant compound of the preform having at least one displaceable species, the at least one displacing metal of the fluid reactant being capable of displacing the at least one displaceable species in the solid reactant compound to produce at least one solid reaction product;
• and
• allowing the fluid reactant to infiltrate the porous preform and react with the solid reactant compound to produce the mechanically-robust ceramic or ceramic composite component, during which the at least one displacing metal at least partially replaces the at least one displaceable species to produce the at least one solid reaction product that has a reaction product volume, and the pore volume is at least partially filled by the reaction product volume;
• and
• wherein the mechanically-robust ceramic or ceramic composite component comprises the at least one displaceable species and the at least one solid reaction product, and the mechanically-robust ceramic or ceramic composite component includes the thread having a dimension of a few hundred micrometers or less and the channel with a wall thickness of a few millimeters or less.