Cellular SiC ceramic from stems of corn—processing and microstructure

SiC-based cellulosic composites were prepared using maize and barley stems as precursors. Reactive melt infiltration has been chosen as processing method. Inspite of very weak and thin cell walls of maize stems, honeycomb microstructure of maize stems was retained by using a slow infiltration technique. Residual silicon could also be removed from the final composite by treating the infiltrated sample under high vaccum and at high temperature viz.1600◦C. Hollow cylindrical SiC composites were obtained from the stems of barley and SiC-cylinders supported by honeycomb SiC core was obtained from the stems of maize. Detailed microstructural features of the pyrolysed and infiltrated maize/barley stems were explored in this work. C 2006 Springer Science + Business Media,Inc.