Effect of Curing Temperature on the Properties of Quartz Fiber Felt Reinforced Fused Silica Densified with Simethicone

In this paper, the needle-punched quartz fiber reinforced fused silica composite was densified by impregnating simethicone in vacuum and then solidified at different temperatures. The volume density and mechanical properties were investigated by means of Archimedes method and three point bending method, while the micro-structure was tested by SEM. The results showed that the volume density of composite increased from the non-impregnation of 1.457 g/cm(3) up to the maximum of 1.718 g/cm(3). The compressive strength increased at higher temperatures, up to 84.4 MPa at 500 degrees C. The tensile strength was weaker with the increase of the temperature, while the bending strength first increased then reduced, and reached the maximum of 43.2 MPa at 160 degrees C with an increase of 41.64%.