Silicon carbide, conventional method

The conventional production method for SiC - the reaction of coke and sand (Acheson process) -does not involve soluble or fusible intermediates. For many applications of silicon carbide this fact is not necessarily a disadvantage, but for the preparation of ceramic composites such intermediates are required. 

The conventional industrial method for the synthesis of a-silicon carbide is to heat silica (sand) with coke in an electric furnace at 2,000-2,500 °C. However, because of the high melting point of the product, it is difficult to fabricate by sintering or melt techniques. Thus, the discovery of a lower temperature fabrication and synthesis route to silicon carbide by Yajima and coworkers in 197526,27 proved to be an important technological breakthrough. This is a preceramic polymer pyrolysis route that has been developed commercially for the production of ceramic fibers. 

Silicon carbide, SiC (i), and silicon nitride, Si3N4 (2), have been known for some time. Their properties, especially their high thermal and chemical stability, their hardness, and their high strength, have led to useful applications for both of these materials. The conventional methods for the preparation of SiC and SiaN4, the high-temperature reaction of fine-grade sand and coke (with additions of sawdust and NaCl) in an electric furnace (the... 

This work reports the development of a polymeric/sol-gel route for the deposition of silicon carbide and silicon oxycarbide thin films for applications such as heat-, corrosion-, and wear-resistant coatings, coatings on fibers for controlling the interaction with the matrix in ceramic matrix composites, or films in electronic and optoelectronic devices. This method, in which the pre-ceramic films are converted to a ceramic coating either by a conventional high temperature annealing or by ion irradiation, is alternative to conventional methods such as chemical or physical vapor deposition (CVD, PVD), molecular beam epitaxy, sputtering, plasma spray, or laser ablation, which are not always practical or cost efficient. 

The video-extensometer eliminates the use of an external extensometer, which can cause micro-cracking during handling. Furthermore, small-sized specimens in the micron range may be tested using this method. Here, the video-extensometer was used to evaluate the tensile properties of silicon carbide monofilaments 100 pm in diameter and to determine the change in distance, A1 between the marked targets, caused by the mechanical strain to the specimen. The strain is then calculated in the conventional manner, as indicated in Eq. (1.6), rewritten here as ... 

A new preparation method is described to synthesize porous silicon carbide. It comprises the catalytic conversion of preformed activated carbon (extrudates or granulates) by reacting it with hydrogen and silicon tetrachloride. The influence of crucial convoaion parameters on support properties is discussed for the SiC synthesis in a ftxed bed and fluidized bed chemical vapour deposition reactor. The surface area of the obtained SiC ranges ftiom 30 to 80 m /g. The metal support interaction (MSI) and metal support stability (MSS) of Ni/SiC catalysts are compared with that of conventional catalyst supports by temperature programmed reduction. It is shown that a Ni/SiC catalyst shows a considnable Iowa- MSI than Ni/Si(>2- and Ni/Al203-catalysts. A substantially improved MSS is observed an easily reducible nickel species is retained on the SiC surface after calcination at 1273 K. 

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