Directional thermal transport materials enable anisotropic heat flow, thereby enhancing the efficiency of thermal management systems. These materials have found broad applications in aerospace, electronics, and automotive industries. Silicon carbide (SiC) based composites, with their exceptional properties including high modulus, thermal stability, and superior thermal conductivity, serve as an ideal structural material. Strategic manipulation over microstructure and composition enables directional thermal management, expanding applicability in thermal management and achieving structural-functional integration. By combining selective laser printing with precursor impregnation and pyrolysis (PIP), this work presents an innovative approach to fabricating thermally anisotropic C_f/SiC composites that integrate both structural and functional properties. The optimized composite (20% (in volume) chopped C_f) exhibited high fiber alignment (f_p = 0.7677) and pronounced thermal anisotropy, with thermal conductivities of 70.14 W/(m·K) perpendicular and 38.87 W/(m·K) parallel to the printing plane (anisotropy ratio: 1.8). This directional heat transport, enabled by fiber orientation and phonon scattering control, is critical for advanced thermal management. The composite also maintained good mechanical strength, exhibiting a flexural strength of (150.4 ± 9.8) MPa parallel to the printing plane, finalizing in a structural and functional integration.

Advances in the study of structural ceramic materials have revealed new perspectives and opportunities, with an increasing emphasis on incorporating biomimicry concepts. Carbide ceramics with anisotropic crystal structures—such as silicon carbide—exhibit superior properties, including high modulus, high-temperature resistance, wear resistance, and high thermal conductivity, making them ideal structural materials. The implementation of biomimetic texturing techniques can enhance their performance along specific orientations, thereby expanding their potential for use in more rigorous environments and endowing them with integrated structural and functional characteristics. This review provides an overview of commonly textured biological materials and discusses their performance. It emphasizes the techniques used to prepare anisotropic carbide ceramics and anisotropic carbide ceramic composites—such as strong external field induction (hot working under uniaxial pressure, casting technologies within magnetic alignment, etc.), template methods (biotemplating, ice templating, etc.), and three-dimensional printing technologies (direct ink writing, stereolithography, etc.)—focusing on the work of researchers within the structural ceramic community, summarizing the current challenges in the preparation of anisotropic carbide ceramic composites, and providing insight into their future development and application.

SiC-based composites are widely used as electromagnetic wave absorbers due to their excellent dielectric properties. However, the constraints associated with structural design and the intricacies of the preparation process hinder their broader application. In this study, novel mullite anti-gyroid/SiC gyroid metastructures are designed to integrate the mechanical and electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption properties of composite materials. Mullite anti-gyroid/SiC gyroid composites are fabricated utilizing a combination of digital light processing (DLP) three-dimensional (3D) printing and precursor infiltration and pyrolysis (PIP) processes. Through the modulation of structural units, the electromagnetic parameters can be effectively regulated, thus improving the impedance matching characteristics of the composites. The structural composites show outstanding EMW absorption properties, with a minimum reflection loss of −54 dB at a thickness of 1.9 mm and an effective absorption bandwidth of 3.20 GHz at a thickness of 2.2 mm. Furthermore, the PIP process significantly enhances the mechanical properties of the composites; compared with those of the mullite/SiC ceramics, the flexural strength of the composites is improved by 3.69–5.85 times (13.28±1.15 MPa vs. (49.05±1.07)–(77.78±3.72) MPa), and the compressive strength is improved by 4.59–13.58 times (8.55±0.90 MPa vs. (39.02±1.63)–(116.13±2.58) MPa). This approach offers a novel and effective method for fabricating structural composites with an expanded range of higher electromagnetic wave absorption properties and improved mechanical properties.

Poor flowability of printable powders and long preparation cycles are the main challenges in the selective laser sintering (SLS) of chopped carbon fiber (C_f) reinforced silicon carbide (SiC) composites with complex structures. In this study, we develop an efficient and novel processing route in the fabrication of lightweight SiC composites via the SLS of phenolic resin (PR) and C_f powders with the addition of α-SiC particles combined with the one-step reactive melt infiltration (RMI). The effects of α-SiC addition on the microstructural evolution of the C_f/SiC/PR printed bodies, C_f/SiC/C green bodies, and derived SiC composites were investigated. The results indicate that the added α-SiC particles play an important role in enhancing the flowability of raw powders, reducing the porosity, increasing the reliability of the C_f/SiC/C green bodies, and contributing to improving the microstructure homogeneity and mechanical properties of the SiC composites. The maximum density, flexural strength, and fracture toughness (K_IC) of the SiC composites are 2.749±0.006 g·cm⁻³, 266±5 MPa, and 3.30±0.06 MPa·m^1/2, respectively. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE, α) of the SiC composites is approximately 4.29×10⁻⁶ K⁻¹ from room temperature (RT) to 900 ℃, and the thermal conductivity (κ) is in the range of 80.15–92.48 W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹ at RT. The high-temperature strength of the SiC composites increase to 287±18 MPa up to 1200 ℃. This study provides a novel as well as feasible tactic for the preparation of high-quality printable powders as well as lightweight, high-strength, and high–κ SiC composites with complex structures by the SLS and RMI.

Research on the laser ablation behavior of SiC ceramics has great significance for the improvement of their anti-laser ability as high-performance mirrors in space and lasers, or the laser surface micro-machining technology as electronic components in micro-electron mechanical systems (MEMS). In this work, the laser ablation of SiC ceramics has been performed by using laser pulses of 12 ns duration at 1064 nm. The laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) below 0.1 J/cm² was obtained by 1-on-1 mode and its damage morphology appeared in the form of “burning crater” with a clear boundary. Micro-Raman mapping technique was first introduced in our study on the laser ablation mechanisms of SiC surface by identifying physical and chemical changes between uninjured and laser-ablated areas. It has been concluded that during the ablation process, SiC surface mainly underwent decomposition to the elemental Si and C, accompanied by some transformation of crystal orientation. The oxidation of SiC also took place but only in small amount on the edges of target region, while there was no hint of SiO₂ in the center with higher energy density, maybe because of deficiency of O₂ atmosphere in the ablated area, elimination of SiO₂ by carbon at 1505 ℃, or evaporating at 2230 ℃.