Abstract
Titanium-silicon carbide (Ti-SiC) continuous fibre composites are very attractive for aerospace applications. Although development of various components is under way, a cost effective method to manufacture the material still has to be identified. Here, a tape casting technique is investigated as a viable method of producing the composites. It involves relatively large inexpensive titanium powder and simple apparatus. Furthermore, the powder particles ensure good fibre distribution, reduced consolidation time, and little damage to the reinforcement. It is shown that uniform powder tapes with good packing density can be readily produced using appropriate casting parameters. Both thermogravimetry and mass spectrometry are used to analyse the burnout process of a fugitive binder system used to produce the tapes. Removal of the organics is found to take place in two stages, separated by over 100 K. composite materials processed by the tape casting route exhibit good fibre distribution and no signs of fibre damage.
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