Patent ID: 7687016

Claim:
A method for producing high-strength ceramic fibers and ceramic fiber architectural preforms with an in-situ grown coating on each fiber surface with a composition different than that of a bulk fiber, comprising: preparing an original sample composed of an architectural preform formed from an as-produced high strength ceramic fiber type, wherein the fiber composition is based on silicon carbide, and wherein the architectural preform comprises at least one of a finite section of a continuous-length multi-fiber tow, a two-dimensional textile-formed fabric, and a three-dimensional textile-formed complex-shaped preform; placing the original sample in a processing furnace; and thermally treating the original sample in the processing furnace at a processing temperature and a hold time of five hours or less in a processing gas having a composition, a pressure that is greater than 1 and less than or equal to 40 atmospheres, and a flow rate, wherein the fiber composition, the processing temperature, the hold time, the gas composition, the pressure, and the flow rate are preselected to allow atomic decomposition from the surface of each fiber with reduced loss in an average tensile strength of the fibers within the thermally treated sample.