A method of preparing transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimens of coated ceramic fibers has been developed, which produces large electron transparent areas due to the minimal preferential milling of the fiber, coating, or epoxy matrix. Multiple individual fibers or tows are impregnated with a high‐temperature epoxy and contained to assure a high fiber‐to‐epoxy volume ratio. The samples are then sectioned and mechanically thinned either parallel or normal to the fiber axes using a wedge polisher on diamond lapping films to achieve a thickness of less than 5 μ.m. The thinned sample is then ion‐milled to electron transparency in less than 30 min, giving representative specimens of the coating, fiber, and coating‐fiber interface. This technique is also well suited to preparing extremely flat specimens for scanning electron microscopy analysis of thin coatings. Examples of TEM sections of coated fibers prepared using this technique are presented.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Oxide - carbon multilayer coatings were continuously applied to various fibers of nominal SiC composition. A liquid-phase coating system that allows application of the coatings in a controlled atmosphere at relatively rapid rates was employed. Sugar - ammonium hydroxide solutions were used for carbon coatings, and aqueous sols were used for the oxides. Carbon was also deposited simultaneously with alumina by chemical vapor deposition of a hydrocarbon in the coating furnace. The coatings were extensively characterized by optical microscopy and TEM. Problems with embrittlement by oxide coatings and poor adherence of oxide coatings on carbon, and some possible solutions to these problems, are discussed.