Effect of Tetraethoxysilane Infiltration on Properties of 2.5D Quartz Fibers Reinforced Silica

Abstract

In this study, 2.5 dimensional quartz fibers reinforced fused silica (2.5D SiO2f/SiO2) composites were prepared by in-situ solidification vacuum-assisted liquid-phase infiltration method using Si-sol and tetraethoxysilane. Composites’ tensile strength and compressive strength were tested by universal testing machine, and the microstructures of the specimen were observed by scanning electron microscopy (FEI Sirion 200). The ultimate sintering temperature was chosen by the differential thermal analysis of tetraethoxysilane gel and the effect of sintering temperature on the composites’ tensile strength. Densification behavior, mechanical properties and microstructures of the composites were investigated. The results show that tetraethoxysilane infiltration process is an efficient route for the preparation of SiO2f/SiO2 composites, after two cycles when the weight was no longer increased using Si-Sol infiltration, the density of SiO2f/SiO2 composites increases from 1.63 to 1.74g/cm3, while the tensile strength and compressive strength, respectively, increase from 31.2 to 52.7MPa and 59.0 to 129.7 MPa. And the interface de-bonding and distinct fibers pull-out of the fracture faces show that it is non-brittle fracture. The enhanced mechanism of tetraethoxysilane infiltration was also analyzed in this paper.