Homogenization for chemical vapor infiltration process

Multi-scale modeling and numerical simulations of the isothermal chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) process for the fabrication of carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC) composites were presented in [Bai, Yue and Zeng, Commun. Comput. Phys., 7(3):597-612, 2010]. The homogenization theory, which played a fundamental role in the multi-scale algorithm, will be rigorously established in this paper. The governing system, which is a multi-scale reaction-diffusion equation, is different in the two stages of CVI process, so we will consider the homogenization for the two stages respectively. One of the main features is that the reaction only occurs on the surface of fiber, so it behaves as a singular surface source. The other feature is that in the second stage of the process when the micro pores inside the fiber bundles are all closed, the diffusion only occurs in the macro pores between fiber bundles and we face up with a problem in a locally periodic perforated domain.

Duke Scholars

Author Shixin Xu DKU Faculty