Excellent heat resistance of Si-Zr-C-O fibre.

In order to obtain the high heat-resistant fibre, Si-Zr-C-O fibre has been developed. Si-Zr-C-O fibre was produced by the use of polyzirconocarbosilane as the precursor polymer. In this paper, the difference in heat-resistance between Si-Ti-C-O and Si-Zr-C-O fibres was clarified. Si-Zr-C-O fibre showed excellent heat resistance (up to 1773 K) compared with Si-Ti-C-O fibre (up to 1573 K). Generally speaking, decomposition reaction of this type of fibre proceeds accompained by the release of CO gas which was formed by the reaction between excess carbon and oxygen included in the fibre. In the case of Si-Zr-C-O fibre, Zr can strongly capture the oxygen atoms, so that the aforementioned decomposition hardly proceeds up to 1873 K (ZrO2 + 3C = ZrC + 2CO; ΔG < 0 at over 1906 K). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]