Influence of SiC coating thickness on mechanical properties of SiCf/SiC composite

Highlights: •CVD SiC coating improves the mechanical properties of 2D KD-I/SiC composite. •The thickness of SiC coating determines the mechanical properties of the composite. •The optimal thickness of CVD SiC coating is 0.34–1 μm. -- Abstract: Silicon carbide (SiC) coatings with varying thickness (ranging from 0.14 μm to 2.67 μm) were deposited onto the surfaces of Type KD-I SiC fibres with native carbonaceous surface using chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process. Then, two dimensional SiC fibre reinforced SiC matrix (2D SiCf/SiC) composites were fabricated using polymer infiltration and pyrolysis (PIP) process. Influences of the fibre coating thickness on mechanical properties of SiC fibre and SiCf/SiC composite were investigated using single-filament test and three-point bending test. The results indicated that flexural strength of the composites initially increased with the increasing CVD SiC coating thickness and reached a peak value of 363 MPa at the coating thickness of 0.34 μm. Further increase in the coating thickness led to a rapid decrease in the flexural strength of the composites. The bending modulus of composites showed a monotonic increase with increasing coating thickness