Silicon Carbide ceramic is a hard ceramic material positioned between alumina and diamond on the Mohs scale. Reactive sintering is the go-to process for producing large size and complex shape SiC products, yet it entails several drawbacks including high raw materials requirements, energy consumption, and production cost.
Hardness
Silicon Carbide (SiC), is a hard and chemically resistant compound composed of carbon and silicon in tetrahedral structure. Naturally found as moissanite mineral, SiC has since 1893 been produced as large single crystals or as powder to be used as abrasives or in other applications requiring high endurance. SiC ceramics boast the highest temperature strength among non-oxide ceramic materials as well as superior flexural, tensile strength as well as corrosion and wear resistance properties.
High hardness of polycarbamide can be achieved through its unique tetrahedral bonding structure, with four silicon atoms bonding with one carbon atom in every tetrahedron – similar to diamond’s structure – giving rise to Mohs hardness rating of 9.5.
Due to its hardness and chemical resistance, ceramic is an attractive material for many industrial uses. It has applications in mechanical engineering, plant engineering and process engineering as an abrasive, cutting tool and refractory. Furthermore, ceramic features excellent corrosion and wear resistance properties while being lightweight with universal chemical resistance properties.
Silicon carbide can be machined in its green, biscuit or fully densified state to form complex geometries. Fully sintered silicon carbide has an approximate shrinkage rate of 20% so tolerances must be tight when working with this material; diamond tools are recommended for accurate machining operations. Silicon carbide comes in two varieties – alpha and beta silicon carbide.
Corrosion Resistance
Due to Silicon Carbide ceramic chemical stability at high temperatures and low coefficient of thermal expansion, silicon carbide ceramic has long been used as an essential material in refractory applications. For instance, its excellent chemical and thermal stability make it useful in burner nozzles, jet and flame tubes in combustion rooms under extreme conditions as well as flue gas desulphurisation plants. Furthermore, silicon carbide ceramic also features prominently among metallurgical uses – it plays an essential part in manufacturing honeycomb ceramic filters which serve to filter strong acid/alkali mixtures found within diesel engine exhaust gas emissions.
Silicon carbide’s combination of high hardness, chemical resistance and certain toughness make it an excellent material for manufacturing bonded and coated abrasives for processing glass, ceramics, stone and cast iron as well as free grinding tools and wheel sets. Furthermore, silicon carbide serves as an integral material in ceramic matrix composites (CMC), which enhance aerospace applications like turbine engines by increasing performance while decreasing weight and environmental harm.
Reaction-bonded SiC is made by infiltrating compacts containing mixtures of pure SiC powder with liquid silicon and carbon, reacting them together to form more SiC, which bonds the initial compacts. Sintering is a ceramic forming method which produces large-size and complex-shaped silicon carbide components efficiently; both types are often utilized by industries including automotive, electronics and energy sectors.
Thermal Conductivity
Silicon Carbide ceramic is an exceptional high-performance refractory ceramic material used across various industrial applications. Due to its high thermal conductivity, low thermal expansion rate, and excellent chemical corrosion resistance properties, SiC makes an ideal material choice for use in kiln shelves, furnace burners, turbine engines and chemical processing equipment.
Refractory ceramics manufacturing utilizes several avenues to produce SiC powders with various purity levels, crystal structures, particle sizes and shapes – making the material one of the most flexible available on the market. Industrial production then shapes these powders into products such as hot-pressed insulators or refractory blocks for further use in industry manufacturing processes.
SiC is also used in the manufacturing of ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) used in aerospace applications, which allows lighter weight components that reduce fuel consumption while improving performance and reliability.
Thermal conductivity measurements conducted on dry samples typically exhibit a l = f(density) variation function with an inflection point as their natural density value increases, but when tested after being subjected to humidity through conditioning with Angelantoni Challenge CH250 at 23 degC +- (23/0.3) degC and 50% RH, humidity has an enormous influence on thermal conductivity due to formation of SiC polymorphs with different crystal structures such as alpha SiC’s hexagonal crystal structure or beta modified’s zinc blend crystal structure.
Wear Resistance
Silicon Carbide ceramic is ideal materials for industrial applications due to their hardness and strength, such as abrasives, refractories, chemical processing, power generation, corrosion resistance and bearing/mechanical seal applications. Their corrosion resistance makes them ideal for heat exchangers in harsh environments like flue gas desulphurisation plants while their fluid-based applications make it the perfect material choice for bearings/mechanical seals/bearings/mechanical seals in fluid-based systems.
Silicon Carbide was first synthesized synthetically and patented by Acheson in 1897. Production methods include sublimation carbothermic reduction (the Acheson process), conversion from polymers, and gas phase chemical reactions. Depending on its production method, silicon carbide can have different purity levels, crystal structures, particle sizes, shapes, distributions and distributions.
Due to its hardness and chemical stability, Silicon Carbide ceramic is widely utilized in abrasive machining processes like grinding, honing and water-jet cutting. Furthermore, this material serves as an excellent abrasive for stone, glass, cast iron and certain non-ferrous metals such as non-ferrous alloys; additionally it’s often employed in lapidary due to its durability and cost effectiveness. Silicon carbide’s corrosion-resistant properties enable it to be utilized in various refractory applications, including shed boards and saggers for ceramic product firing kilns and vertical cylinder distillation furnaces used for zinc smelting. Furthermore, this material has also been found useful as the lining material of aluminium electrolytic cells, crucibles and pieces of furnace materials.