Investigating mechanical properties of silicon carbide coated carbon nanotube composite at elevated temperatures

Silicon carbide (SiC) coated vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNT) are attractive material for fabricating MEMS devices as an alternative for bulk micromachining of SiC. In order to examine the mechanical properties of SiC-CNT composites at high temperatures, we fabricated VACNT micro-pillars with different amounts of SiC coating and performed high-temperature micro-pillar compression on these samples. The indentation result shows that the coating can improve the elastic modulus up to three orders of magnitude. Samples were tested at room temperature, 300°C, 600°C, and 900°C under compressive load. No significant degradation of the mechanical properties was observed at elevated temperatures, demonstrating the harsh environment potential of this composite.