Effect of pyrolysis parameters on mechanical properties of polymer-derived ceramics

Polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) which are fabricated through pyrolysis of preceramic polymers have attracted increasing attention due to their versatility in structure architecture design and property tailoring. Shaping at the polymer state using 3D printing allows the final ceramic products to exhibit arbitrary shapes and complex architectures that are otherwise impossible to achieve through traditional processing routes. The polymer-to-ceramic phase transition also provides additional space for mechanical property tailoring. A multiscale computational model is developed to explore the phase transition mechanisms and their correlations with processing parameters and failure response. Calculations in this work concern PMHS/DVB preceramic polymers. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are carried out first to track the atomic structure evolution at different temperatures. Continuum-scale ceramic phase formation is calculated on the basis of the competition between gas generation and gas diffusion. The effect of processing parameters on mechanical properties of pyrolyzed PMHS/DVB is systematically studied. Conclusions from this study can provide direct guidance for fabricating PDC composites with tailored mechanical properties.