Silicon carbide development

REFEL. Registered tradename (Reactor Fuel Element Laboratory) of the UKAEA Springfields laboratory, for reaction bonded silicon carbide developed there on the basis of P. Popper s original work at British Ceramic R.A. (Power Jets (R D) Ltd, Br. Pat. 866,813, 3/5/61). 

Developments in metal-matrix composites technology has resulted in aluminum matrix materials filled with siUcon carbide [409-21 -2] SiC, (see Carbides, silicon carbide) particles (15 to 60 vol %) that provide the possibihty of weight reduction for brakes (20). These composite materials are being tested and evaluated. 

Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell This type of fuel cell was developed in response to the industiy s desire to expand the natural-gas market. The electrolyte is 93 to 98 percent phosphoric acid contained in a matrix of silicon carbide. The electrodes consist of finely divided platinum or platinum alloys supported on carbon black and bonded with PTFE latex. The latter provides enough hydrophobicity to the electrodes to prevent flooding of the structure by the electrolyte. The carbon support of the air elec trode is specially formulated for oxidation resistance at 473 K (392°F) in air and positive potentials. 

In 1885, Charles Martin Hall invented his aluminum process and Hamilton Young Castner in 1890 developed the mercury-type alkali-chlorine cell, which produced caustic (sodium hydroxide) in its purest form. Edward G. Acheson in 1891, while attempting to make diamonds in an electric furnace, produced silicon carbide, the first synthetic abrasive, second to diamond in hardness. Four years later, Jacobs melted aluminum oxide to make a superior emeiy cloth. Within two decades, these two abrasives had displaced most natural cutting materials, including naturally occurring mixtures of aluminum and iron oxides. 

Isothermal Infiltration. Several infiltration procedures have been developed, which are shown schematically in Fig. 5.15.P3] In isothermal infiltration (5.15a), the gases surround the porous substrate and enter by diffusion. The concentration of reactants is higher toward the outside of the porous substrate, and deposition occurs preferentially in the outer portions forming a skin which impedes further infiltration. It is often necessary to interrupt the process and remove the skin by machining so that the interior of the substrate may be densified. In spite of this limitation, isothermal infiltration is used widely because it lends itself well to simultaneous processing of a great number of parts in large furnaces. It is used for the fabrication of carbon-carbon composites for aircraft brakes and silicon carbide composites for aerospace applications (see Ch. 19). 

Fluidized-bed CVD was developed in the late 1950s for a specific application the coating of nuclear-fuel particles for high temperature gas-cooled reactors. PI The particles are uranium-thorium carbide coated with pyrolytic carbon and silicon carbide for the purpose of containing the products of nuclear fission. The carbon is obtained from the decomposition of propane (C3H8) or propylene... 

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a major industrial material with a considerable number of applications. CVD plays a significant role in its development and production, SiC is a covalent carbide with two phases a and [3. The phase of major interest here is pSiC, which has a cubic zinc blend structure. It is the one reported here. 

CVD is a maj or process in the production of thin films of all three categories of electronic materials semiconductors, conductors, and insulators. In this chapter, the role of CVD in the fabrication of semiconductors is reviewed. The CVD production of insulators, conductors, and diffusion barriers is reviewed in the following chapter. The major semiconductor materials in production or development are silicon, germanium, ni-V and II-VI compounds, silicon carbide, and diamond. 

CVD silicon carbide fibers are a recent development with prom-ising potential which may take over some of the applications of CVD boron fibers or other refractory fibers, providing that the production cost can be reduced. 

The history and development of polysilane chemistry is described. The polysilanes (polysilylenes) are linear polymers based on chains of silicon atoms, which show unique properties resulting from easy delocalization of sigma electrons in the silicon-silicon bonds. Polysilanes may be useful as precursors to silicon carbide ceramics, as photoresists in microelectronics, as photoinitiators for radical reactions, and as photoconductors. 

Another process for silicon carbide fibers, developed by Verbeek and Winter of Bayer AG [45], also is based on polymeric precursors which contain [SiCH2] units, although linear polysilmethylenes are not involved. The pyrolysis of tetramethylsilane at 700°C, with provision for recycling of unconverted (CHg Si and lower boiling products, gave a polycarbosilane resin, yellow to red-brown in color, which was soluble in aromatic and in chlorinated hydrocarbons. Such resins could be melt-spun but required a cure-step to render them infusible before they were pyrolyzed to ceramic... 

Soluble polydiorganosilane homo and copolymers have recently shown great potential in such areas as precursors for the preparation of silicon carbide fibers (1), as photoinitiators in alkene polymerization (2), as photoconductors (3), and as positive or negative self-developing photoresists for photolithographic applications (4). A number of copolydiorganosilane copolymers have been reported recently (5) in which the copolymer contained equal amounts of both monomers in the feed. 

Non-oxide ceramics such as silicon carbide (SiC), silicon nitride (SijN ), and boron nitride (BN) offer a wide variety of unique physical properties such as high hardness and high structural stability under environmental extremes, as well as varied electronic and optical properties. These advantageous properties provide the driving force for intense research efforts directed toward developing new practical applications for these materials. These efforts occur despite the considerable expense often associated with their initial preparation and subsequent transformation into finished products. 

The first useful organosilicon preceramic polymer, a silicon carbide fiber precursor, was developed by S. Yajima and his coworkers at Tohoku University in Japan [5]. As might be expected on the basis of the 2 C/l Si ratio of the (CH3)2SiCl2 starting material used in this process, the ceramic fibers contain free carbon as well as silicon carbide. A typical analysis [5] showed a composition 1 SiC/0.78 C/0.22 Si02- (The latter is introduced in the oxidative cure step of the polycarbosilane fiber). 

The Yajima polycarbosilane, while it was one of the first, is not the only polymeric precursor to silicon carbide which has been developed. 

The Miiller-Rochow-Synthesis [16,17] (direct synthesis of methylchlorosilanes) provides as byproduct a high boiling fraction consisting essentially of 1,1,2-trimethyltrichlorodisilane and 1,2-dimethyltetrachlorodisilane [18]. Starting with these disilanes Wacker-Chemie has developed different ways to produce silicon carbide [19, 21] and silicon carbonitride [22] fibers. 

Insulated dye developers, 19 285-286 Insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), silicon carbide in, 22 539—540 Insulating brick, ASTM classifications and specifications for, 21 508, 509t Insulating castables, classification of, 21 510t... 

Shrink-resist science/technology development of, 26 391 Shrink-resist treatments, 26 391-393 additive, 26 393 chlorine-based, 26 392 chlorine-free, 26 392-393 Shuiskite, 6 471t Shutdown period, 29 494 Shutdown systems, 20 671-672 Shuttle vectors, 26 482-483 Sialon-bonded silicon carbide, 22 541 Siberian red lead, 6 468 S-iB-S block copolymers, 24 707 SiC-ceramic, 22 525. See also Silicon carbide... 

Yajima. S., Hayashi. J., Omori, M. and Okamura, K. (1976). Development of a silicon carbide fiber with high tensile strength. Nature 261, 683-685. 

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