Fibre reinforced ceramic moulding composites manufacture and characterisation.

Abstract

Ceramic materials have considerable attraction for use in applications where the service temperatures are high and where fire performance and non-combustibility are important. Unfortunately most monolithic ceramic materials are extremely brittle which limits their use for structural applications. The development of fibre and particulate reinforced ceramic composites provides a route to achieving increased toughness in the materials, although this is often at the expense of ultimate strengths and/or the process-ability of the materials. Many reinforcing fibres used with ceramics are inherently expensive and manufacturing routes to produce fibre reinforced materials can involve high processing temperatures and are consequently expensive. A key goal of this research therefore is to develop a new type of ceramic matrix composites that combine toughness, strength and process-ability to provide a cost effective structural material. The research described in this thesis has been concerned with the development and characterisation of a series of ceramic compounds that can be moulded at modest temperatures( 130-160" C) and pressures in a manufacturing system that replicates dough moulding compounds (DMC) as used for polymeric matrix composites. The conventional polyester matrix of polymeric DMC has been replaced by a soluble inorganic system which is compounded with fibres, fillers and hardening agents to produce a paste-like or doughy substance The handle-ability of the material is determined by the viscosity of the matrix and the type or amount of fillers and additives present. The research has involved a careful set of experiments in which the formulation of the ceramic DMC has been systematically varied in order to achieve an optimum viscosity for storage and handling together with a further series of experiments studying the hardening and cure of the compounds. The mechanical properties of the compounds have been measured and additional formulation changes have been introduced to maintain desirable processing characteristics while improving mechanical properties, and in particular the impact resistance using instrumented falling weight impact machines. Finally the fire properties of the compounds have been studied using cone calorimetry and indicative furnace testing. The structure of the compound has been studied throughout the programme with various microscopic techniques and thermal analysis systems used to characterise the materials, their dispersion and changes that occurred during processing and after high temperature exposure. The final result of the programme has been the identification of a range of material formulations that can provide a tough moulding compound, capable of high temperature service use, that possesses useful structural properties and which can be processed cheaply at modest temperatures using low cost materials.