Surface growth for molten silicon infiltration into carbon millimeter-sized channels: Lattice-Boltzmann simulations, experiments and models

The process of liquid silicon (Si) infiltration is investigated for channels with radii from 0.25 [mm] to 0.75 [mm] drilled in compact carbon (C) preforms. The advantage of this setup is that the study of the phenomenon results can be simplified. For comparison purposes, attempts are made in order to work out a framework for evaluating the accuracy of simulations. The approach relies on dimensionless numbers involving the properties of the surface reaction. It turns out that complex hydrodynamic behavior derived from second Newton law can be made consistent with Lattice-Boltzmann (LB) simulations. The experiments give clear evidence that the growth of silicon carbide (SiC) proceeds in two different stages and basic mechanisms are highlighted. LB simulations prove to be an effective tool for the description of the growing phase. Namely, essential experimental constraints can be implemented. As a result, the existing models are useful to gain more insight on the process of reactive infiltration into porous media in the first stage of penetration, i.e. up to pore closure because of surface growth. A way allowing one to implement the resistance from chemical reaction in Darcy law is also proposed.