Deformation Performance of High Strength Silicon Carbide Ceramic Foams

Silicon carbide(SiC) ceramic foams with a continuously connected open-cell structure were prepared and characterized for their mechanical performance.The apparent densities of the SiC ceramic foams are controlled between 0.4 g/cm~3 and 1.3 g/cm~3,with corresponding compressive strengths ranging from 8 MPa to 50 MPa and flexural strengths from 3 MPa to 30 MPa.Stress-strain curves with only one linearelastic region,which is different from those previous reports on ceramic foams, are obtained by compressive test.This can be attributed to the existence of filaments with fine,dense and high strength microstructures in SiC.The SiC and the filaments can respond homogeneously to applied loading.