Abstract: Microstructure of SiC fiber manufactured by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) onto tungsten (W) wire core was investigated by analytical electron microscopy (AEM). The results reveal that the fiber consists of W core, SiC sheath and C-coating. SiC sheath could be subdivided into two parts according to whether containing C rich stripe, or not. An emphasis was put on W/SiC interfacial reaction products and the transition zone between sub-layers in SiC sheath. The W/SiC interface consists of three layers of reaction production, namely, W2C, W5Si3 and WC. And there are amounts of facet faults existing in (100) face of WC crystalline and two classes of stack faults in WC have been revealed. The formation essence of different sublayers in SiC sheath was also discussed.

Key words: Chemical vapor deposition (CVD), Analytical electron microscopy (AEM), C-rich zone