This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a novel hybrid manufacturing process to reduce production time of refractory foam materials to a few hours, rather than the hundreds of hours currently required, providing a large reduction in overall processing cost. The process will combine chemical vapor deposition/infiltration (CVD/CVI) technology with microwave technology. Recent studies have shown that silicon carbide (SiC) foam production by CVD/CVI can be done in at least one order of magnitude less time when microwave heating is employed. Further, it is expected that properties of the formed product can be maintained and possibly enhanced. The concept will be demonstrated in a commercial SiC foam manufacturing process. A potential 95% reduction is expected in the cost of fabricating SiC foam, allowing penetration of the catalyst support market for exhaust aftertreatment, as well as large additional markets such as water treatment catalyst supports and structural materials for aerospace. In addition, this technology can be applied to ceramic matrix composite processing with similar benefits.
