Authors: B M Eick J P Youngblood
Publish Date: 2009/01/01
Volume: 44, Issue: 1, Pages: 160-165
Abstract
Silicon carbide SiC nanofibers of diameters as low as 20 nm are reported The fibers were produced through the electrostatic spinning of the preceramic polycarbomethylsilane with pyrolysis to ceramic A new technique was used where the preceramic was blended with polystyrene and subsequent to electrospinning was exposed to UV to crosslink the PS and prevent fiber flowing during pyrolysis Electrospun SiC fibers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy thermo gravimetric analysisdifferential thermal analysis scanning electron microscopy transmission electron microscopy Xray diffraction and electron diffraction Fibers were shown to be polycrystalline and nanograined with βSiC 4H polytype being dominant where commercial methods produce αSiC 3C Pyrolysis of the bulk polymer blend to SiC produced αSiC 15R as the dominant polytype with larger grains showing that electrospinning nanofibers affects resultant crystallinity Fibers produced were shown to have a core–shell structure of an oxide scale that was variable by pyrolysis conditionsThis study was partially supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Grant F4962004NA153 and the National Science Foundation through the Graduate Assistantship in Areas of National Need The authors would also like to thank Kent Van Every for help with the FESEM and Prof Eric Stach with help with TEM
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