SiC whisker-reinforced MoSi/sub 2/

Technical Report · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988

OSTI ID:7007924

Carter, D H

The mechanical characteristics of an intermetallic matrix with two different reinforcements were studied. The matrix materials was MoSi/sub 2/, with two different reinforcements, Los Alamos VLS SiC whiskers and Huber VS SiC whiskers. The purpose of the reinforcement was to provide toughening at ambient temperature and strengthening at elevated temperatures. The VLS whiskers doubled the strength of the matrix at 1200/degree/C, and greatly improved the ambient temperature toughness of the matrix. The VS whiskers were added because they are much smaller in length and diameter, and therefore decreased the mean free path between whiskers, at the same volume fraction. The VS whiskers improved the toughness of the matrix at ambient temperature, and more than tripled the strength of MoSi/sub 2/ at elevated temperatures. The high strength of this new composite places this material in the realm of attractive engineering materials for high-temperature applications. A method to quantitatively describe fracture surfaces was used to study these composites. This induced the use of three-dimensional representations of the fracture surface, from which quantitative information about the roughness was obtained. 69 refs., 80 figs., 11 tabs.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 7007924
• Report Number(s): LA-11411-T; ON: DE88016674
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360602 -- Other Materials-- Structure & Phase Studies
360603* -- Materials-- Properties
CARBIDES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
CRYSTALS
FAILURES
FRACTURES
MATERIALS
MATERIALS TESTING
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
MICROSTRUCTURE
MOLYBDENUM COMPOUNDS
MOLYBDENUM SILICIDES
MONOCRYSTALS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
REFRACTORY METAL COMPOUNDS
REINFORCED MATERIALS
SILICIDES
SILICON CARBIDES
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SURFACE AREA
SURFACE PROPERTIES
TESTING
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
ULTIMATE STRENGTH
WHISKERS