Review, Status, and Future of the Chemical Vapor Infiltration Process for Fabrication of Fiber‐Reinforced Ceramic Composites

The chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) process is increasingly recognized as a practical method for fabrication of fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites. The isothermal and thermal gradient-forced flow techniques are the two most frequently used variants of CVI processing. Both are used for fabrication of carbon-carbon and SiC-SiC composites which possess high fracture toughness compared to monolithic ceramics. A pulse CVI process, where the reagents are forced to flow in and out of the preform because of cyclical evacuation and backfilling, may be of value for densification of preforms which have high initial density. 15 refs.