Method for making ceramic matrix composites
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsRoger A. Allaire, Victor F. Janas
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Abstract
Fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composite articles of complex shape are made with improved physical integrity and control over fiber alignment by a process wherein prepreg comprising fibers and powdered matrix is treated to shorten the average length of the fibers, then configured without binder removal into a preform of selected shape and fiber orientation, and finally consolidated with heat and pressure into a dense ceramic matrix composite article. Fiber breakage during the consolidation process is thereby avoided.
Claims12
A method for making a ceramic matrix composite article comprising the steps of:
- forming an elongated prepreg comprising a powder of a ceramic matrix material, an organic binder, and multiple parallel-aligned, long-staple inorganic reinforcing fibers;
- forming multiple breaks in at least some of the long-staple fibers at multiple break points along the length of the prepreg, each break effecting severance of less than all of the fibers in a cross-section of the prepreg at the break point, thus to provide an elongated shortened-fiber prepreg material;
- shaping the shortened fiber prepreg material into a preform shape;
- and
- debindering and consolidating the preform shape to provide a dense ceramic matrix composite.
A ceramic matrix composite article comprising a ceramic matrix reinforced with inorganic reinforcing fibers, wherein at least some of the reinforcing fibers comprise groups of shortened, parallel-aligned fibers within the matrix, each group comprising a member of a group pair consisting of first and second shortened fiber groups, the first fiber group in each pair being disposed in axial juxtaposition with the second fiber group.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.