A material useful as a proppant comprises a core chemically reacted in situ from coal dust and a polymer derived ceramic material, such that at least a portion of the coal dust is chemically converted to a ceramic, nanoparticles, graphene, nanofibers or combinations of any of these.

A multi-composition fiber is provided including a primary fiber material and an elemental additive material deposited on grain boundaries between adjacent crystalline domains of the primary fiber material. A method of making a multi-composition fiber is also provided, which includes providing a precursor laden environment, and promoting fiber growth using laser heating. The precursor laden environment includes a primary precursor material and an elemental precursor material.

A composite comprising electrospun inorganic fibers and nanoparticles. The composite may carry a reagent, for example an oxidant. The composite may be formed by electro spinning a composition of a precursor material and nanoparticles to form a precursor composite followed by conversion of precursor fibers of the precursor composite to the inorganic fibers. The composite carrying a reagent may be used to absorb ethylene gas.

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of a ceramic nanowire preform, in particular to a process for the preparation of the ceramic nanowire preform by combining a template technique and a preceramic polymer conversion technique. The process of the present invention uses carbonaceous material as a template, and prepares an isotropic ceramic nanowire preform by controlling the ratio of a precursor to a solvent, the amount of a catalyst and the ratio of a prepared precursor solution to the carbonaceous template, wherein the preform is isotropic and has lower bulk density and higher volume fraction.

The present disclosure includes a system and method for monitoring degradation of a high temperature composite component (HTC). The HTC is defined by a volume that includes a matrix material and a fiber formed from at least one of ceramic and carbon material. One or more electrical conductors are disposed within the volume and connected directly or indirectly to a monitoring system.

The disclosed methods and apparatus improve the fabrication of solid fibers and microstructures. In many embodiments, the fabrication is from gaseous, solid, semi-solid, liquid, critical, and supercritical mixtures using one or more low molar mass precursor(s), in combination with one or more high molar mass precursor(s). The methods and systems generally employ the thermal diffusion/Soret effect to concentrate the low molar mass precursor at a reaction zone, where the presence of the high molar mass precursor contributes to this concentration, and may also contribute to the reaction and insulate the reaction zone, thereby achieving higher fiber growth rates and/or reduced energy/heat expenditures together with reduced homogeneous nucleation. In some embodiments, the invention also relates to the permanent or semi-permanent recording and/or reading of information on or within fabricated fibers and microstructures. In some embodiments, the invention also relates to the fabrication of certain functionally-shaped fibers and microstructures. In some embodiments, the invention may also utilize laser beam profiling to enhance fiber and microstructure fabrication.

Disclosed is a method of making high temperature fiber including incorporating an inorganic atom into a polymer precursor fiber to form a modified polymer precursor fiber and converting the modified polymer precursor fiber to a high temperature fiber having a bonded inorganic atom.

A non-woven fabric is provided which includes a three-dimensional array of fibers. The three-dimensional array of fibers includes an array of standing fibers extending perpendicular to a plane of the non-woven fabric and attached to a base substrate, where the base substrate is one or more of an expendable film substrate, a metal base substrate, or a mandrel substrate. Further, the three-dimensional array of fibers includes multiple layers of non-woven parallel fibers running parallel to the plane of the non-woven fiber in between the array of standing fibers in a defined pattern of fiber layer orientations. In implementation, the array of standing fibers are grown to extend from the base substrate using laser-assisted chemical vapor deposition (LCVD).

Methods for fabricating high-temperature composite structures (e.g., structures comprising carbon-carbon composite materials or ceramic composite matrix (CMC) materials and configured for use at temperature at or exceeding about 2000 F. (1093 C.)) include forming precursor structures by additive manufacturing (AM) (e.g., 3D printing). The precursor structures are exposed to high temperatures to pyrolyze a precursor matric material of the initial 3D printed structure. A liquid resin is used to impregnate the pyrolyzed structure, to densify the structure into a near-net final shape. Use of expensive and time-consuming molds and post-processing machining may be avoided. Large, unitary, integrally formed parts conducive for use in high-temperature environments may be formed using the methods of the disclosure.

A multi-composition fiber is provided including a primary fiber material and an elemental additive material deposited on grain boundaries between adjacent crystalline domains of the primary fiber material. A method of making a multi-composition fiber is also provided, which includes providing a precursor laden environment, and promoting fiber growth using laser heating. The precursor laden environment includes a primary precursor material and an elemental precursor material.