Reactive melt infiltration fabrication of C/C-SiC composite: Wetting and infiltration

Reactive melt infiltration is a fast and economical fabrication process for high performance C/C-SiC composite. In order to help understanding reactive melt infiltration production of C/C-SiC composite by liquid silicon, wetting and infiltration of the porous C/C composite preform by liquid silicon were investigated using a sessile drop technique. The contact angle decreased with the increase of time while the drop base diameter increased. According to the variation of drop base diameter and contact angle as a function of time, four different stages corresponding to the interfacial reaction and infiltration of liquid silicon were identified during wetting of the porous C/C composite preform by the liquid silicon. The infiltration height based on wetting curve linearly increased with time, much smaller than that calculated according to Washburn equation, which strongly indicated the reaction control of silicon infiltration.