The present invention relates to matrix formulations for engineered ceramic matrix composites (E-CMCs) for high temperature applications.
Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are being developed for applications up to 1755 K (2700 F). With traditional CMC's, the silicon carbide (SiC) fiber tows in preforms are coated with a boron nitride (BN) coating overlaid with a SiC layer deposited by chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) traditionally termed as “CVI SiC” in the literature. In preforms with CVI SiC partially filling the space (termed as “partial CVI SiC”) between neighboring 0° and 90° BN-coated SiC tows, the remaining space in traditional CMCs used in 1623 K (2462 F) applications is filled by a “filler matrix” consisting of either Silicon (Si), SiC, or both, using a Si melt infiltration (MI) process, CVI, slurry infiltration, polymer impregnation and pyrolysis (PIP) and/or both.
Ceramic matrix composites containing free Si within the CVI SiC and in the filler matrices cannot be used at temperatures above 1623 K (2462 F) due to poor creep properties. Alternatively, the void space between the fiber tows can be filled solely with SiC either by CVI (termed as “full CVI SiC”), which results in good creep properties but with poor crack resistance capabilities or in combination with PIP, slurry infiltration and MI.
Therefore, if a crack propagates either from the protective environmental barrier coating (EBC), the bond coat or internally from a fiber tow, the crack is likely to propagate rapidly through the brittle SiC filler matrix in the CMC leading to considerable matrix damage and corresponding overloading of the fibers and a reduction in composite life. Furthermore, when these cracks are connected to the external surface, oxygen ingress into the interior of the CMC is likely to result in the oxidation of the BN coatings, resulting in a decrease in the CMC life.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to improve the durability of the matrix and eliminate free Si to allow the SiC/SiC CMCs to be used at temperatures up to 1755 K (2700 F).
Certain embodiments of the present invention may provide solutions to the problems and needs in the art that have not yet been fully identified, appreciated, or solved by current SiC-based engineered ceramic matrices. For example, some embodiments generally pertain to a CMC matrix that eliminates the presence of free Si to inhibit crack propagation and to self-heal cracks, preventing oxygen ingress from the surface and protecting the BN coatings on the SiC fibers.
In an embodiment, a process for fabricating engineered ceramic matrix composites (E-CMCs) for high temperature applications may include combining and attrition milling a mixture of silicon carbide (SiC), silicon nitride, CrMoSi, CrMoSiGe, CrMoSiY, and/or CrSi2, CrSi, or Cr5Si3, and one or more self-healing additives. The process also includes wet attrition milling the mixture using ethanol and silicon carbide grinding media, grinding the mixture into particles and homogenously mixing the mixture of the silicon carbide, the silicon nitride, silicide powders, and the one or more self-healing additives. The process further includes slurry preparing the engineered CMC prior to infiltration of the SiC/SIC preform, and infiltrating the slurry SiC/SiC preform with the engineered CMC slurry either under gravity, vacuum, or high pressure to allow particulates to spread uniformly within cavities of the SiC/SiC preform. The process also includes melt infiltrating the SiC/SiC preform with CrSi2, CrSi, Cr5Si3, or any combination thereof to fill in the voids left behind after the slurry infiltration.
In another embodiment, an apparatus includes an engineered ceramic matrix composite (E-CMC) configured to eliminate presence of free silicon (Si) to inhibit crack propagation and to self-heal cracks, preventing oxygen ingress from a surface and protecting boron nitride (BN) coating.
In yet another embodiment, an engineered ceramic matrix (ECM) includes crack blunting particles configured to increase fracture toughness of the ECM by blunting a crack tip and slowing or stopping growth of the crack within the matrix. The crack blunting particles comprises CrSi2, CrMoSi, or both for crack blunting.
In order that the advantages of certain embodiments of the invention will be readily understood, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments that are illustrated in the appended drawings. While it should be understood that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings, in which:
Also, because matrix 100 may be infiltrated with silicon, the presence of free silicon can be detrimental to the mechanical properties of the composite. In particular, the life of the composite is limited to applications below a certain temperature (generally less than 1623 K) due to the silicon reacting with the boron nitride coating of SiC fibers 102.
Embodiments of the present invention pertain to an engineered ceramic matrix (ECM) (sometimes referred to engineered matrix (EM) in this document) that can lead to improved fracture toughness due to crack blunting, as well as crack self-healing, i.e., fill up the crack with low viscosity oxides to reduce oxygen ingress to the fibers in a fiber reinforced composite. Additionally, the presence of Cr in the engineered ceramic matrices containing Cr—Si alloys (e.g. CrMoSi, CrSi2, CrSi, Cr3Si, Cr5Si3, (Cr,Mo)3Si, (Cr,Mo)5Si3 etc. including containing Ge as a solid solution in the alloys, such as CrMoSiGe) can getter any oxygen entering the filler matrix, and thereby protect the SiC fiber, BN coating and CVI SiC from oxidation. As a result, the high temperature strength of the composite should increase since the ECM design would allow it to carry the applied load for a longer duration before shedding it on the fibers.
It should also be appreciated that in certain embodiments, the ECM 200 may be plastically compliant at high temperatures to blunt cracks in the SiC fibers, as shown in
As shown in Table 1 above, a range of compositions for CrMoSi alloys is provided, as well as self-healing additives used singly or in combination in the ECMs. Other embodiments involving other silicides used singly or in combination with suitable alloying elements are included in Table 1.
Table 2 shows the differences in the matrix design concepts between the traditional and the present embodiments designed to match the thermal strains developed in the fibers and the matrix during thermal cycling. The use of silicides is an illustration of some of the embodiments described herein.
Returning to
In this embodiment, ECM 1000 may be composed of CrMoSi/SiC, CrMoSi/SiC/Si3N4, CrMoSi/SiC/Si3N4/CrSi2, or CrMoSi/SiC/Si3N4/CrSi2/Cr5Si3 with different combinations of the self-healing additives shown in Table 1. Before oxidation, ECM 1000 includes scratches 1012 with a pre-drilled hole 1002. Pre-drilled hole 1002 in this embodiment has a diameter of approximately 1 mm.
Pre-drilled hole 1002 may be filled with low viscosity oxides due to minor additives such as boron carbide, chromium diboride 1004, germanium 1006, yttrium 1008, zirconium diboride and/or zirconium silicate 1010. Each of these additives may be oxidized for a predefined period of time. For example,
It should be noted that the self-healing ECM may also be dense to increase the thermal conductivity of the fiber reinforced composite. The infiltration of the preform has two components—slurry infiltration and melt infiltration. The filling of voids inside the preform with slurry and melt infiltration increases the thermal conductivity of the composite over that of the preform.
At 1306, ECM slurry is prepared prior to the infiltration of the SiC/SiC preform by mixing the powders in an aqueous alkaline ammonium hydroxide solution containing a dispersant, such as Triton X-100. At 1308, the SiC/SiC preform is infiltrated with the ECM slurry either under gravity, vacuum and/or high pressure depending on the slurry composition, viscosity and pH to allow the particulates to be spread uniformly within the cavities of the preform.
It should be appreciated that other fabrication processes may be used, such as slurry coating the BN and CVI SiC-coated fiber tows to make tapes and stacking up the tapes in a 0° and 90° configuration, and hot pressing and/or hot isostatic pressing (HIP) the stacks to densify the composite. Another process would involve infiltrating 2-D fabric with the matrix slurry, cutting the slurry-infiltrated fabric and laying the fabric in a 0° and 90° configuration, hot pressing and/or HIPing the laid up stack to densify the composite.
At 1310, melt infiltration is performed by infiltrating molten CrSi2, CrSi, Cr5Si3, Cr3Si and/or CrMoSi with Mo between 0 to 60 wt. percent and Si between 10 and 55 wt. percent (see Table 1) into the slurry-infiltrated SiC/SiC preform to fill in the voids left behind after the slurry infiltration process 1308. However, depending on the embodiment, the range may change.
In some embodiments, the ECM may have additional properties, such as fracture toughness and self-healing, which the traditional SiC matrix without self-healing additives does not have. The ECM may give more flexibility in designing the matrix towards the properties desired for a particular component. This flexibility cannot be obtained in the traditional matrix.
With the ECM in mind, when looking at
Because the SiC fibers are coated with boron nitride, the coatings may become oxidized if there is oxygen ingress through surface-connected cracks. The cracks may be stopped by blunting the cracks in some embodiments. Further, the self-healing compounds in the matrix may heal the cracks by filling up the crack with low viscosity material. Moreover, the ECM may increase reliability and load carrying capacity.
For the purposes of matching the properties, if the thermal expansion of the matrix is below the SiC line, the matrix stresses will be compressive. However, if its thermal expansion is above the SiC line, then the matrix stresses will be tensile. This is more clearly seen in image 1800, when thermal expansion of silicide results in tension, thereby nucleating cracks.
To address this problem, Table 2 shown above may be referred to, and the following formula may be used in the ECM design.
(ΔL/L0)fiber=(ΔL/L0)ECM=Vsilicide(ΔL/L0)silicide+VSiC(ΔL/L0)SiC+VSi3N4(ΔL/L0)Si3N4
For the traditional SiC matrix, the volume fraction of the SiC particles, VSiC=100% so that the thermal expansion of the fiber and the matrix are exactly matched per the above equation. In an ECM, some of the SiC particles is replaced by silicide particles of volume fraction Vsilicide However,
At 1904, the ECM is infiltrated as a slurry, and infiltrated into the SiC preforms, or in some embodiments, SiC fibers. In an alternative embodiment, the slurry may be deposited on fibers tows followed by tape casting and hot pressing of 0/90 layup to form the composite. Simply put, the fabrication process is to infiltrate ECM slurry into voids in the SiC preforms. The void spacing is infiltrated with the ECM slurry in some embodiments.
At 1906, CrSi2, CrSi and/or other Cr—Si alloys (e.g. Cr-25% Si) is externally melt infiltrated to fill in the remaining space in the CMC preforms and to bond the high temperature ECM particles. Alternatively, CrSi2, CrSi and/or other Cr—Si alloys (e.g. Cr-25% Si) may be infiltrated into the preform as a slurry and the slurry-infiltrated preform heated above the melting point(s) of alloy to internally melt infiltrate the alloy(s). See, for example, SiC preforms 2002 (e.g., SiC+Si3N4+CrMoSi+self-healing compounds) of
External melt infiltration is conducted by placing the slurry-infiltrated SiC preform on a C/C woven cloth sufficiently large to wick any excess molten metal. The C/C woven cloth itself is placed on a large boron nitride plate. The silicide powder is placed on top and around the preform to allow the molten metal to flow into the preform from the top face as well as from the four sides. The boron nitride plate containing the C/C woven fabric, the SiC preform, and the silicide powder are inserted into a melt infiltration furnace. The furnace is then heated to just above the melting point of the silicide powder so that it melts and flows into the preform. In other embodiments, pressure melt infiltration of slurry infiltrated performs using inert gas or nitrogen may be used.
Internal melt infiltration is conducted by incorporating the lower melting point silicide in the ECM slurry in sufficient amounts. This way, when the preform is heated above the melting point of the silicide, the silicide melts and fills the voids between the particles and any uninfiltrated voids in the preform. This may result in a bonded ECM in the CMC 2006.
Some embodiments generally pertain to a CMC matrix that eliminates the presence of free Si to inhibit crack propagation and to self-heal cracks, preventing oxygen ingress from the surface and protecting the BN coatings.
Some embodiments slow down or stop crack propagation, self-heal the crack to prevent or minimize oxygen ingress and ensure that the silicon content in the matrix is zero, enabling the CMC to be used in applications up to 1755 K (2700 F). In some embodiments, an ECM may include one or more of the following properties—high temperature, lightweight, self-healing, and SiC fiber-reinforced ceramic composites. The ECM may be constructed by way of mixing different volume fractions of three or more constituents so that the following condition is fulfilled
(ΔL/L0)fiber=(ΔL/L0)ECM=V1(ΔL/L0)1+V2(ΔL/L0)2+V3(ΔL/L0)3 Equation (1)
where (ΔL/L0)fiber is the thermal strain in the fiber, (ΔL/L0)ECM is the thermal strain in the engineered ceramics matrix, (ΔL/L0)1 is the thermal strain of the ith constituent (I=1, 2, 3, . . . n), V1 is the volume fraction of the ith constituent, and
One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that Equation (1) is a general concept applicable for non-reactive fiber E-CMC.
For embodiments that include silicide, SiC, Si3N4, and SH additives, Equation (1) can be expressed as follows
where VSilicide (ΔL/L0)Silicide, VSH, and (ΔL/L0)SH are generically used to denote the volume fraction(s) of silicides and self-healing additives of different compositions, respectively.
Table 3 below shows compositions of several engineered ceramic matrices in weight percentages with and without self-healing additives.
From the compositions shown in Table 3, new compositions may be formulated for the next generation of engineering ceramic matrices, where the compositions are given in volume percentages using Equation (2). See Table 4.
The equivalent compositions in weight percentages are shown in Table 5 below.
In some embodiments, CrMoSi denotes the Cr-30 (at. %)Mo-30 (at. %)Si alloy while CrMoSiGe denotes the Cr-30 (at. %)Mo-29 (at. %)Si-1 (at. %)Ge alloy. Either silicide may provide a way for blunting cracks at high temperatures (see
In some embodiments, Si3N4 is present in the engineered ceramic matrices, since the thermal expansion mismatch between the silicides and SiC can be eliminated by adding sufficient amounts of Si3N4 to compensate for the higher thermal expansion of the silicides. It should be noted that Mix 1 and 2 do not contain self-healing additives (i.e., VSH=0% in Equation (2)) and are designed to blunt cracks with ductile silicide particles at high temperatures, with no free silicon. Mix 3 and 8 contain Chromium Boride (CrB2), Boron Carbide (B4C) and Y2O3, or any combination thereof. Composition ranges for the different constituents may include (a) 5 to 25 (vol. %) CrMoSi or CrMoSiGe; (b) 50 to 85 (vol. %) SiC; (c) 5 to 35 (vol. %) Si3N4; (d) 0 to 10 (vol. %)CrSi2 or Cr—Si alloy; (e) 0 to 10 (vol. %) of self-healing compounds such as boron carbide (B4C), chromium diboride (CrB2), germanium (Ge), yttrium (Y), zirconium diboride (ZrB2), zirconium silicate (ZrSiO4) singly, or in combination thereof.
It will be readily understood that the components of the invention, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the detailed description of the embodiments is not intended to limit the scope of the invention as claimed, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of the invention.
The features, structures, or characteristics of the invention described throughout this specification may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. For example, the usage of “certain embodiments,” “some embodiments,” or other similar language, throughout this specification refers to the fact that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of the invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in certain embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” “in other embodiments,” or other similar language, throughout this specification do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment or group of embodiments, and the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.
One having ordinary skill in the art will readily understand that the invention as discussed above may be practiced with steps in a different order, and/or with hardware elements in configurations that are different than those which are disclosed. Therefore, although the invention has been described based upon these preferred embodiments, it would be apparent to those of skill in the art that certain modifications, variations, and alternative constructions would be apparent, while remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention. In order to determine the metes and bounds of the invention, therefore, reference should be made to the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/449,344, filed on Jan. 23, 2017, and is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/411,375, filed on Jan. 20, 2017, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/281,927, filed on Jan. 22, 2016, and is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/905,333 filed on May 30, 2013, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/269,187 filed Dec. 18, 2015. The subject matter of this earlier-filed application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The invention described herein was made in the performance of work under a NASA contract and is subject to the provisions of Section 305 of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, Public Law 85-568 (72 Stat. 435; 42 U.S.C. 2457).
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
3718441 | Landingham | Feb 1973 | A |
4240835 | Laskow et al. | Dec 1980 | A |
4889686 | Singh et al. | Dec 1989 | A |
5030597 | Ogata | Jul 1991 | A |
5069841 | Petrovic et al. | Dec 1991 | A |
5292692 | Maloney et al. | Mar 1994 | A |
5294489 | Luthra et al. | Mar 1994 | A |
5330590 | Raj | Jul 1994 | A |
5330854 | Singh | Jul 1994 | A |
5376427 | Singh | Dec 1994 | A |
5429997 | Hebsur | Jul 1995 | A |
5510303 | Kameda et al. | Apr 1996 | A |
5643514 | Chwastiak | Jul 1997 | A |
5900277 | Fox et al. | May 1999 | A |
5962103 | Luthra et al. | Oct 1999 | A |
5990025 | Suyama et al. | Nov 1999 | A |
6024898 | Steibel et al. | Feb 2000 | A |
6288000 | Hebsur | Sep 2001 | B1 |
7258530 | Morrison et al. | Aug 2007 | B2 |
8043720 | Corman et al. | Oct 2011 | B2 |
20060169404 | Thebault et al. | Aug 2006 | A1 |
20090264273 | Riedell et al. | Oct 2009 | A1 |
20100009143 | Pailler et al. | Jan 2010 | A1 |
20110236695 | Schmidt | Sep 2011 | A1 |
20110256411 | Courcot et al. | Oct 2011 | A1 |
20110268577 | Bouillon et al. | Nov 2011 | A1 |
20120076927 | Bhatt et al. | Mar 2012 | A1 |
20150246851 | Miranzo | Sep 2015 | A1 |
20160040299 | Allemand et al. | Feb 2016 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
0946460 | Jun 1999 | EP |
1059274 | Dec 2000 | EP |
WO 2010072978 | Jul 2010 | WO |
WO 2014135700 | Sep 2014 | WO |
WO 2010063946 | Jun 2019 | WO |
Entry |
---|
Raj,Sai V., Thermal expansion behavior of hot-pressed engineered matrices, Ceramics International, Feb. 1, 2016, pp. 2557-2569, vol. 42, Issue 2, Elsevier US. |
“Slurry Characteristics”, accessed on Jun. 18, 2019. (Year: 2019). |
Hebsur, Mohan G., Development and Characterization, Materials Science and Engineering, (1999), pp. 24-37, vol. A261. |
Quemard, Self-healing mechanisms of a SiC fiber reinforced multi-layered ceramic matrix composite in hight pressure steam environments, Journal of the European Ceramic Society, (2007), pp. 2085-2094, vol. 27. |
Naslain, Boron-bearing species in ceramic matrix composites for long-term aerospace applications, Journal of Solid State Chemistry, Elsevier, (2004), pp. 449-456, vol. 177, USA. |
Emiliani, Characterization and oxidation resistance of hot-pressed chromium diboride, Material Science and Engineering, (1993), pp. 111-124, vol. A172, USA. |
Nakao, Effect of SiC Nano sizing on self-crack-healing during service, Proceedings of the First International Conference on Self Healing Materials, Apr. 2007, Noordwijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. |
Jung, Self-Healing of Heavily Machined Cracks in Si3N4/SiC and Resultant High-Temperature Fatigue Strength, Proceedings of the First International Conferende on Self Healing Materials, Apr. 2007, Noordwijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. |
Zuo, Oxidation behavior of tow-dimensional C/SiC modified with self-healing Si—B—C coating in static air, Corrosion Science, Elvsevier, (2012), pp. 87-93, vol. 65. |
Yin, Microstructure and oxidation resistance of carbon/silicon carbide composites infiltrated with chromium silicide, Materials Science and Engineering, Elsevier, (2000), pp. 89-94, vol. A290. |
Luthra, Melt Infiltrated (MI) SiC/SiC composited for Gas Turbines Applications, (2003), USA. |
Dicarlo, Fabrication Routes for Continuous Fiber-Reinforced Ceramic Composites (CFCC), NASA/TM, (1998), USA. |
Petrovic, J. J., & Honnell, R. E. MoSi2 particle reinforced-Sic and Si3N4 matrix composites. Journal of Materials Science Letters, 9( 9), pp. 1083-1084. doi: 10.1007/bf00727883 (Year: 1990). |
Daintith, J. Dictionary of Science, Intermetallic Compound, p. 426. |
Families of intermetallic structure types: A selection, Pergamon Materials Series, Pergamon, 2008, vol. 13, pp. 617-750, ISSN 14 70-1804, ISBN 9780080440996, http ://dx.doi.org/1 0.1 016/S 14 70/1804(08)80009-0. |
Johnson, S, Recent Development in Ultra High Temperature Ceramics at NASA Ames, AIAA, 2009 Paper No. 2009-7219. |
Chawla, Ceremic Reinforements, Ceramic Matrix Composites, Second Edition, pp. 47-105 (2003). |
Dictionary.com, “blunt”, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/blunt?s=t, accessed Sep. 14, 2015. |
Feng, T., The oxidation behavior and mechanical properties of MoSi2—CrSi2—SiC—Si coated carbon/carbon composites in high-temperature oxidizing atmosphere, Corrosion Science 53, Aug. 22, 2011, 4102-4108. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62449344 | Jan 2017 | US | |
62281927 | Jan 2016 | US | |
61654311 | Jun 2012 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 15411375 | Jan 2017 | US |
Child | 15875283 | US | |
Parent | 13905333 | May 2013 | US |
Child | 15411375 | US |