CVD DIAMOND-COATED FIBERS

Diamond-coated fibres have been fabricated using hot filament chemical vapour deposition (CVD) and tested for mechanical stiffness. The fibr es coated include small(<20 mu m diameter) commercially available samp les such as Nicalon, Tyranno, Nextel, Alter and Hi-Nicalon, as well as thicker (100-150 mu m diameter) SiC-based fibres produced by Textron and B.P. Mechanical bend tests show that the fibres were significantly stiffened by the addition of a CVD diamond layer of a few micrometres thickness, giving a Young's modulus value close to that for natural d iamond.