SiC fibers with controllable thickness of carbon layer prepared directly by preceramic polymer pyrolysis routes

Continuous SiC fibers with different thickness of carbon layer were prepared through three preceramic polymer pyrolysis routes. To make the carbon layer thickness controllable, a simple improvement by using a ceramic bushing was adopted to retard the deposition of the pyrolytic carbons. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analysis reveals that the carbon layer thickness varies from less than 5 nm to 40 nm. The specific resistivity of the fibers increases by 5 orders of magnitude as the carbon layer thickness decreases. All of the fibers exhibit a tensile strength of around 1.8 GPa which is independent of the carbon layer thickness. The formation process of the carbon layer is discussed in three steps: the decomposition, the carbonization and the deposition. The as-received fibers have a potential application as the reinforcement of functional materials. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.