Materials that enable high-performance structures at service temperatures above 500°F/230°C are limited. The options are basically metals such as titanium and alloys like Inconel, polyimides (PI) or ceramic matrix composites (CMC). All of these are significantly more costly than conventional carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites, but CMC have been gaining interest due to their low density — roughly one-third that of Inconel and one-half that of titanium. The downside of CMC has been the long processing times required to make parts — just short of 30 days, according to an April 2019 article in the American Ceramic Society Bulletin.
However, Pyromeral (Barbery, France) has developed a family of products that bridge this gap, offering performance up to 1,500°C with processing that is more akin to CFRP, producing parts in roughly one week. “We have developed novel chemistry that enables advanced glass-ceramic matrices reinforced with continuous fibers without the lengthy melt infiltration step,” explains Pyromeral’s sales and marketing director Guillaume Jandin. The company offers PyroKarb, PyroSic and PyroXide materials reinforced with high modulus carbon, silicon carbide and aluminum oxide fibers, respectively, typically in the form of two-by-two twill fabrics, resulting in composites with a fiber volume fraction (FVF) of 50%.