Formation of mullite coatings on silicon-based ceramics by chemical vapor deposition

Dense, uniform, mullite coatings have been deposited by chemical vapor deposition on SiC substrates, using a AlCl₃-SiCl₄-CO₂-H₂ system. The typical coating microstructure consisted of a thin layer of nanocrystallites of γ-Al₂O₃ in vitreous silica at the coating-substrate interface, with columnar mullite grains over this interfacial layer. The composition of the coating was graded such that the outer surface of the coating was highly alumina rich. The changes in the coating microstructure with processing parameters are discussed. The ability of mullite to incorporate such large composition variations is discussed in the light of vacancy formation as theAl/Si ratio is increased and the ordering of these vacancies leads to changes in lattice parameters. The formation of domains was studied by measuring the spacing of superlattice spots in electron diffraction patterns and the relationship between domain size andAl/Si ratio is discussed.