Growth of textured mullite fibers using polycrystalline precursors

Fine ceramic oxide fibers are widely used as reinforcements in composites for high temperature applications. The primary goal of this research was to investigate the growth of textured or single crystal oxide fibers by heat treatment of polycrystalline or amorphous, extruded precursor fibers. Mullite was selected for this study due to its excellent chemical stability, creep resistance and strength at high temperatures.; Micrographic analysis and in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction analysis have been performed on mullite systems in order to study the anisotropic grain growth and the effect of titania additions in mullite. The estimated activation energies from the SEM micrographic particle size analysis were 644.3 kJ/mol and 773.7 kJ/mol for the length and thickness, respectively. An in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction microstructure analysis was done with a Curved Image Plate (CIP) detector and the fiber was heat treated in a QLF. The apparent crystallite size showed anisotropy in crystallite growth. Furthermore, a higher growth rate along the [001] direction than the [110] direction was observed.; Mullite whiskers were prepared by HF leaching and templated into polycrystalline mullite fibers by extrusion. Textured growth of mullite fibers with elongated grains, aligned along the long-axis of the fibers, was achieved by heat treatment. Repeated heat treatment cycles of a whisker-templated fiber showed a bamboo-like microstructure. It was confirmed by SEM, TEM and optical microscopy (OM) that the growth direction along the fiber length was the [001] direction of orthorhombic mullite.