UltraTemp^TM Composite by SenCer Inc.

SenCer Inc. (SenCer) was founded in 1995 and develops, designs, manufacturers and markets high performance ceramic products. SenCer developed a fiber/matrix composite which was designed for use as a thermal package for electronic components but was quickly identified as exhibiting excellent properties as a high temperature structural material. The chemistry of the material is essentially a pure oxide composition in both matrix and fiber with a small amount of other chemistries in the formulation. The material has been dubbed “UltraTemp™” and shows an extreme resistance to chemical attack, an extended life cycle over competitive materials, as well as an overall chemical inertness to vapor transport from other materials. UltraTemp™ has been tested to temperatures as high as 1550˚C without signs of mechanical, thermal or high temperature creep degradation. Preliminary testing is currently underway on compostions which extend the range to 1800˚C.  The composite is formed utilizing a proprietary near net shape forming technique and can be easily developed in large sheets, and complex shapes. UltraTemp™ can also include micro and macro hole generation. Because of UltraTemp™’s composite like structure it is an excellent candidate for high temperature applications because it transfers the heat evenly across the surface providing an extremely even firing surface. Additionally, it has little to no free silica on the surface and therefore is very resistant to chemical attack. UltraTemp™ is considered a material ‘system’ in that the components can be altered to affect the properties of the final product without sacrificing the manufacturability of the product. Changes to both matrix and fiber chemistries can be done rapidly and many compositions are being investigated to target given applications. During the development of a ‘silica free’ composite material thermal barrier coatings were applied to the UltraTemp™ surface and it was noticed that an extremely uniform, well bonded layer could be achieved. The coatings did not appear to suffer from the usual cycling failures of plasma sprayed or other bonding methods on traditional technical ceramics. Upon closer study it was noticed that this effective bonding was due to a complex pore structure at the surface. With close matching of expansion characteristics several new coating chemistries were developed to provide an excellent high chemical purity barrier coating. It was determined that the excellent thermal stability and toughness of the UltraTemp™ composite combined with an ability to produce a coating which provided enhanced surface properties offered an inexpensive method of obtaining a long life material with desired properties. Coatings of Al2O3, ZrO2, CeO2, Mullite, and a hermetic glass have been developed to date. While the current developments are based upon a binary packing model for the coatings, further enhancements in properties are expected utilizing ternary and even quaternary particle packing theory. The coating technology is unique as it is applied as a cold sprayed powder to the as dried composite and co-fired into the structure. This has led an automatable, inexpensive process of achieving a final structure. Figure 2 is an SEM micrograph of a high alumina based fiber blend of UltraTemp™ containing a ~.015” coating of Zirconia on the surface. The extreme tightness of the interface is shown as well as a chemical line scan trace across the boundary. Very little diffusion of the 2 materials is evident. The absence of silica is also evident both in the coating and base composite material.