US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Solid Free Form Fabrication (SFF) of Self-Bonded Silicon Carbide

0210598

Safari

Description: This award is to support a collaborative project between Dr. Ahmad Safari, Department of Ceramics and Materials Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey and Dr. Emad Ewais, Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute, Helwan, Cairo, Egypt. The investigators plan to study the manufacture of self-bonded Silicon Carbide (SBSiC) parts from silicon carbide powder via solid free form fabrication technique (SFF). The same material will also be produced by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) for comparative studies to benchmark the effectiveness of the SFF process. The investigators will examine the application of these forming techniques to the manufacture of complex shape objects, near-net shape, fully or near fully dense components. The quality of the products will be evaluated through studies of microstructure, physical, mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. The results of this investigation will be analyzed and reported. There will be a synergy between the research efforts of the U.S. and Egyptian teams.

Scope: In the manufacturing of advanced ceramics the desired product performance specifications are difficult to achieve because of the need for strict control of all steps during processing. Also, the manufacturing of new ceramic parts by conventional processing requires lengthy and costly design and building of molds. The advent of SFF technology in the last decade has created an opportunity to drastically reduce prototyping time and cost. SFF also lends itself to manufacturing of small quantities of tailor-made specialty products. This project will examine the parameters of this special technique, which gives the ability to obtain cost effective, iterative design and control of the properties of ceramic parts. The results of this work will be of benefit in educating engineers, students and researchers in this field in the United States and in Egypt. Dr. Safari is an expert in the manufacturing technique, while Dr. Ewais is expert in SiC. A postdoctorate at Rutgers will participate in the research. This project is being supported under the US-Egypt Joint Fund Program, which provides grants to scientists and engineers in both countries to carry out these cooperative activities.