Unidirectional carbon fiber and SiC particulate Co-reinforced fused silica composite

Unidirectional carbon fiber (uni-Cf) reinforced fused silica composite with the addition of 20 wt.% SiC particulate (SiCp) (uni-Cf/SiO2 + 20 wt.% SiCp) was prepared by slurry infiltration and hot-pressing. The room temperature mechanical properties were investigated and the fracture features of composites were observed. While the flexural strength parallel to the fiber direction decreased from 667.3 to 431.8 MPa, that of perpendicular to the fiber direction increased from 18.0 to 54.3 MPa for uni-Cf/SiO2 composite after the addition of SiCp. Obviously, the anisotropy of mechanical properties was strongly modified. The increased flexural strength might be ascribed to the increase of the fiber/matrix interfacial bonding strength caused by the SiCp addition.