ABSTRACT A novel silicon carbide (SiC) fiber‐derived ceramic was successfully fabricated via SPS using SiC fibers as raw materials, which overcame the inherent brittleness, poor machinability, and low electrical conductivity of traditional SiC ceramics. The fracture surface displayed a typical zigzag crack propagation path with a fracture toughness reaching 6.11 MPa·m 1/2 . The stress–strain curve exhibited a multistage fracture response, thereby effectively dissipating energy. The SiC fiber‐derived ceramic achieved a high conductivity of 1510 S·m −1 at 700°C, while its thermal conductivity remained at a stable level of 39 W·m − 1 ·K − 1 . The enhanced electrical conductivity was attributed to the gradual graphitization of amorphous carbon within the SiC fibers during the sintering process, which resulted in the formation of a continuous conductive graphite network. In addition, the thermoelectric potential of the SiC fiber‐derived ceramic was also evaluated. Despite this favorable trend in the Seebeck coefficient, the calculated zT values remained extremely low. Instead, it exhibits obvious potential as a high‐temperature conductive structural material. This work effectively provided a new route for developing high performance SiC‐based ceramics with integrated structural and functional properties.
Zhao et al. (Fri,) studied this question.