Improving self-healing ability and flexural strength of ytterbium silicate-based nanocomposites with silicon carbide nanoparticulates and whiskers

Abstract

In the emerging era of aircraft industry, silicon carbide (SiC) is regarded as an appropriate material for gas turbine engine blades. In order to protect this ceramic component against the oxidation and volatilization in hot steam environments, environmental barrier coating should be utilized. The composite of SiC/Yb₂Si₂O₇–Yb₂SiO₅ with self-healing ability is a candidate for the top layer of this coating. In this study, the crack-healing behavior of SiC/Yb₂Si₂O₇–Yb₂SiO₅ nanocomposites is investigated by pre-cracking followed by annealing in oxidizing environments. Comparing to previous studies, the healing time and healing temperature can be reduced to 15 min and 800 °C by increasing the volume fraction of SiC to 20 %. In addition, nanocomposites with both self-healing ability and superior strength were created in this research by combining two types of SiC filler (whiskers and nanoparticulates). The self-healing mechanism in these composites is the SiC oxidation and silicate transformation associated with their volume expansion, which is evidenced by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope. According to the results, the best volume ratio between whisker and nanoparticulate is determined as 1/3.