Fabrication of highly crystalline titanium-containing SiC fibers with different boron contents exhibiting excellent electromagnetic wave absorption

The Sylramic fibers containing both titanium and boron elements have attracted extensive research interests in recent years. In this work, the titanium-containing Si–C–B–Ti–O fibers with boron contents ranging from 5.19 to 9.30 wt% were successfully prepared and transformed to highly crystalline SiC (B, Ti) fibers after sintering. However, the boron contents of SiC (B, Ti) fibers were decreased to only around 1.0 wt%, which could be attributed to the preferential reaction between boron and oxygen during sintering to generate B₂O₃ gas. The boron element mainly existed in the forms of TiB_x, B_xC_y, and BC_xO_y phases. It is fascinating that the tensile strengths of the SiC (B, Ti) fibers had certain degree of improvement. Simultaneously, the SiC (B, Ti) fibers exhibited both excellent high-temperature resistance (~ 2000 °C) and outstanding electromagnetic wave absorption performance. The minimum reflection loss value of − 55.82 dB was achieved with fitting thickness of 1.80 mm, and the effective absorption bandwidth could reach 3.24 GHz. Our work provides a convenient strategy for developing a new type of raw material with structural and functional integration, which has broad application prospects in the field of advanced aircraft.