Abstract
SiC composite materials are usually used to very high temperature condition such as thermal protection system materials at space vehicles, combustion chambers or engine nozzles because they have high specific strength and good thermal properties at high temperature. One of the most widely used fabrication methods of SiC composites is the chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) process. During the process, chemical gases including Si are introduced into porous preform which is made by carbon fibers for infiltration. Since the processes take a very long time, it is important to reduce the process time in designing the reactors and processes. In this study, both the gas flow and heat transfer in the reactors during the processes are analyzed using a computational fluid dynamics method in order to design reactors and processes for uniform, high quality SiC composites. Effects of flow rate and heater temperature as process parameters to the infiltration process were examined.