Chapter 53. Electrophoretic Deposition of Silica/Alumina Colloids for the Manufacture of CMC's

Summary

High performance fibre reinforced ceramic matrix composites have potential applications in gas turbine technology. Electrophoretic deposition has been demonstrated to achieve complete infiltration of a woven fibre mat from a colloidal suspension using the woven fibre mat as the deposition electrode. The drying conditions of the infiltrated fibre mat are critical to produce prepreg of sufficient quality to viscously sinter on hot pressing to form a dense composite. It will be reported that a series of Nicalon SiC fibre reinforced composites with silica matrices containing increasing alumina contents have been produced by this technique. The effect of the increasing alumina content on the electrophoretic deposition behaviour, the drying and sintering characteristics along with the physical and mechanical properties will be discussed.