This paper reports the effect of sintering processes and additives on the microstructures and mechanical properties of -SiC composite ceramics. We fabricated sintered bodies of -20 vol.% SiC with or without sintering additive, such as C or , densified by spark plasma sintering as well as hot pressing. While almost full densification was achieved regardless of sintering processes or sintering additives, significant grain growth was observed in the case of spark plasma sintering, especially with . With sintered bodies, mechanical properties, such as flexural strength and Vickers hardness, were also examined.

C/SiC composites were prepared by boron nitride (BN)-assisted liquid silicon infiltration (LSI), and their anti-oxidation and mechanical properties were investigated. The microstructures, bulk densities, and porosities of the C/SiC composites demonstrated that the infiltration of liquid silicon into the composites improved them, because the layered-structure BN worked as a lubricant. Increasing the amount of BN improved the anti-oxidation of the prepared C/SiC composites. This synergistic effect was induced by the assistance of BN in the LSI. More thermally stable SiC was formed in the composite, and fewer pores were formed in the composite, which reduced inward oxygen diffusion. The mechanical strength of the composite increased up to the addition of 3% BN and decreased thereafter due to increased brittleness from the presence of more SiC in the composite. Based on the anti-oxidation and mechanical properties of the prepared composites, we concluded that improved anti-oxidation of C/SiC composites can be achieved through BN-assisted LSI, although there may be some degradation of the mechanical properties. The desired anti-oxidation and mechanical properties of the composite can be achieved by optimizing the BN-assisted LSI conditions.

The liquid-phase sintering method was used to prepare a glass lens forming core composed of SiC-Al2O3-Y2O3. Spark plasma sintering was used to obtain dense sintered bodies. The sintering characteristics of different SiC sources and compositions of additives were studied. Results revealed that, owing to its initial larger surface area, α-SiC offers sinterability that is superior to that of β-SiC. A maximum density of 3.32 g/cm3 (theoretical density [TD] of 99.7%) was obtained in α-SiC-10 wt% (6Al2O3-4Y2O3) sintered at 1850˚C without high-energy ball milling. The maximum hardness and compression stress of the sintered body reached 2870 Hv and 1110 MPa, respectively. The optimum ultra-precision machining parameters were a grinding speed of 1243 m/min, work spindle rotation rate of 100 rpm, feed rate of 0.5 mm/min, and depth of cut of 0.2 μm. The surface roughnesses of the thus prepared final products were Ra = 4.3 nm and Rt = 55.3 nm for the aspheric lens forming core and Ra = 4.4 nm and Rt = 41.9 for the spherical lens forming core. These values were found to be sufficiently low, and the cores showed good compatibility between SiC and the diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating material. Thus, these glass lens forming cores have great potential for application in the lens industry.

A promising candidate material for a H2 permeable membrane is SiC due to its many unique properties. Ahydrogen-selective SiC membrane was successfully fabricated on the outer surface of an intermediate multilayer γ-Al2O3 witha graded structure. The γ-Al2O3 multilayer was formed on top of a macroporous α-Al2O3 support by consecutively dipping intoa set of successive solutions containing boehmite sols of different particle sizes and then calcining. The boehmite sols wereprepared from an aluminum isopropoxide precursor and heated to 80oC with high speed stirring for 24 hrs to hydrolyze theprecursor. Then the solutions were refluxed at 92oC for 20 hrs to form a boehmite precipitate. The particle size of the boehmitesols was controlled according to various experimental parameters, such as acid types and acid concentrations. The topmost SiClayer was formed on top of the intermediate γ-Al2O3 by pyrolysis of a SiC precursor, polycarbosilane, in an Ar atmosphere. Theresulting amorphous SiC-on-Al2O3 composite membrane pyrolyzed at 900oC possessed a high H2 permeability of 3.61×10−7mol·m−2·s−1·Pa−1 and the H2/CO2 selectivity was much higher than the theoretical value of 4.69 in all permeation temperatureranges. Gas permeabilities through a SiC membrane are affected by Knudsen diffusion and a surface diffusion mechanism,which are based on the molecular weight of gas species and movement of adsorbed gas molecules on the surface of the pores.

Nano sized SiC particles (270 nm) are easily agglomerated in nickel sulfamate electrolytic bath during a composite electrodeposition process. The agglomeration of nano particles in composite coatings can significantly reduce the mechanical properties of the composite coatings. In this study, Ni-SiC nano composite coatings were fabricated using a conventional electrodeposition process with the aid of ultrasound. Nano particles were found to be distributed homogeneously with reduced agglomeration in the ultrasonicated samples. Substantial improvements in mechanical properties were observed in the composite coatings prepared in presence of ultrasound over those without ultrasound. Ni-SiC composite coatings were prepared with variable ultrasonic frequencies ranging from 24 kHz to 78 kHz and ultrasonic powers up to 300 watts. The ultrasonic frequency of 38 kHz with ultrasonic power of 200 watt was revealed to be the best ultrasonic conditions for homogeneous dispersion of nano SiC particles with improved mechanical properties in the composite coatings. The microstructures, phase compositions, and mechanical properties of the composite coatings were observed and evaluated using SEM, XRD, Vickers microhardness, and wear test. The Vickers microhardness of composite coatings under ultrasonic condition was significantly improved as compared to the coatings without ultrasound. The friction coefficient of the composite coating prepared with an ultrasonic condition was also smaller than the pure nickel coatings. A synergistic combination of superior wear resistance and improved microhardness was found in the Ni-SiC composite coatings prepared with ultrasonic conditions.

Zirconium diboride (ZrB2) and mixed diboride of (Zr0.7Ta0.3)B2 containing 30 vol.% silicon carbide (SiC) composites were prepared by hot-pressing at 1800˚C. XRD analysis identified the high crystalline metal diboride-SiC composites at 1800˚C. The TaB2 addition to ZrB2-SiC showed a slight peak shift to a higher angle of 2-theta of ZrB2, which confirmed the presence of a homogeneous solid solution. Elastic modulus, hardness and fracture toughness were slightly increased by addition of TaB2. A volatility diagram was calculated to understand the oxidation behavior. Oxidation behavior was investigated at 1500˚C under ambient and low oxygen partial pressure (pO2~10-8 Pa). In an ambient environment, the TaB2 addition to the ZrB2-SiC improved the oxidation resistance over entire range of evaluated temperatures by formation of a less porous oxide layer beneath the surface SiO2. Exposure of metal boride-SiC at low pO2 resulted in active oxidation of SiC due to the high vapor pressure of SiO (g), and, as a result, it produced a porous surface layer. The depth variations of the oxidized layer were measured by SEM. In the ZrB2-SiC composite, the thickness of the reaction layer linearly increased as a function of time and showed active oxidation kinetics. The TaB2 addition to the ZrB2-SiC composite showed improved oxidation resistance with slight deviation from the linearity in depth variation.

The unique features of spark plasma sintering process are the possibilities of a very fast heating rate and a short holding time to obtain fully dense materials. -SiC powder with 0, 2, 6, 10 wt% of -SiC particles (seeds) and 4 wt% of Al-B-C (sintering aids) were spark plasma sintered at for 10 min. The heating rate, applied pressure and sintering atmosphere were kept at , 40 MPa and a flowing Ar gas (500 CC/min). Microstructural development of SiC as function of seed content and temperature during spark plasma sintering was investigated quantitatively and statistically using image analysis. Quantitative image analyses on the sintered SiC ceramics were conducted on the grain size, aspect ratio and grain size distribution of SiC. The microstructure of SiC sintered up to consisted of equiaxed grains. In contrast, the growth of large elongated SiC grains in small matrix grains was shown in sintered bodies at and the plate-like grains interlocking microstructure had been developed by increasing sintering temperature. The introduction of -SiC seeds into -SiC accelerated the grain growth of elongated grains during sintering, resulting in the plate-like grains interlocking microstructure. In the -SiC seeds added in -SiC, the rate of grain growth decreased with -SiC seed content, however, bulk density and aspect ratio of grains in sintered body increased.

Diamond/SiC composites are appropriate candidate materials for heat conduction as well as high temperature abrasive materials because they do not form liquid phase at high temperature. Diamond/SiC composite consists of diamond particles embedded in a SiC binding matrix. SiC is a hard material with strong covalent bonds having similar structure and thermal expansion with diamond. Interfacial reaction plays an important role in diamond/SiC composites. Diamond/SiC composites were fabricated by high temperature and high pressure (HPHT) sintering with different diamond content, single diamond particle size and bi-modal diamond particle size, and also the effects of composition of diamond and silicon on microstructure, mechanical properties and thermal properties of diamond/SiC composite were investigated. The critical factors influencing the dynamics of reaction between diamond and silicon, such as graphitization process and phase composition, were characterized. Key factor to enhance mechanical and thermal properties of diamond/SiC composites is to keep strong interfacial bonding at diamond/SiC composites and homogeneous dispersion of diamond particles in SiC matrix.

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a promising material for power device applications due to its wide band gap(3.26 eV for 4H-SiC), high critical electric field and excellent thermal conductivity. The Schottky barrier diodeis the representative high-power device that is currently available commercially. A field plate edge-terminated4H-SiC was fabricated using a lift-off process for opening the Schottky contacts. In this case, Ni/Ti dual-metalcontacts were unintentionally formed at the edge of the Schottky contacts and resulted in the degradation ofthe electrical properties of the diodes. The breakdown voltage and Schottky barrier height (SBH, ΦB) was 107V and 0.67eV, respectively. To form homogeneous single-metal Ni/4H-SiC Schottky contacts, a deposition andetching method was employed, and the electrical properties of the diodes were improved. The modified SBDsshowed enhanced electrical properties, as witnessed by a breakdown voltage of 635V, a Schottky barrier heightof ΦB=1.48eV, an ideality factor of n=1.04 (close to one), a forward voltage drop of VF=1.6V, a specific onresistance of Ron=2.1mΩ-cm2 and a power loss of PL=79.6Wcm-2.

Reaction bonded silicon carbide (RBSiC) is an important engineering ceramic because of its high strength and stability at elevated temperatures, and it is currently fabricated using reasonably cheap manufacturing processes, some of which have been used since the 1960s. However, forming complicated shapes from these materials is difficult because of their poor workability. The purpose of this work is to join the reaction-bonded SiC parts using a preceramic polymer as joint material. The manufacturing of ceramic material in the system Si-O-C from preceramic silicon containing polymers such as polysiloxanes has attained particular interest. The mixtures of preceramic polymer and filler materials, such as SiC, Si and MoSi, were used as a paste for the joining of reaction sintered SiC parts. The joining process during the annealing in Ar atmosphere at were described. The maximum strength of the joints was 63 MPa for the specimen joined with 10 vol.% of and 30 vol.% of SiC as filler materials. Fracture occurred in the joining layer. This indicates that the joining strength is limited by the strength of the joint materials.

The bi-materials with Al-Mg alloy and its composites reinforced with SiC and particles were prepared by conventional powder metallurgy method. The A1-5 wt%Mg and composite mixtures were compacted under , and then the mixtures compacted under 400 MPa were sintered at for 5h. The obtained bi-materials with Al-Mg/SiCp composite showed the higher relative density than those with composite after compaction and sintering. Based on the results, the bi-materials compacted under 400 MPa and sintered at 873K for 5h were used for mechanical tests. In the composite side of bi-materials, the SiC particles were densely distributed compared to the particles. The bi-materials with Al-Mg/SiC composite showed the higher micro-hardness than those with composite. The mechanical properties were evaluated by the compressive test. The bi-materials revealed almost the same value of 0.2% proof stress with Al-Mg alloy. Their compressive strength was lower than that of Al-Mg alloy. Moreover, impact absorbed energy of bi-materials was smaller than that of composite. However, the bi-materials with Al-Mg/SiCp composite particularly showed almost similar impact absorbed energy to composite. From the observation of microstructure, it was deduced that the bi-materials was preferentially fractured through micro-interface between matrix and composite in the vicinity of macro-interface.

Sintered composites of Al-8wt%Cu-10vol%SiCp were deformed by repressing or equal channel angular pressing(ECAP) at room temperature, and . Repressing produced more densification than ECAP but resulted in much lower transverse rupture strengths. In both cases, deformation at room temperature and , resulted in much lower strengths than deformation at , and also caused the fracturing of some SiC particles. The higher bend strengths and less SiC fracturing at are attributable to the presence of an Al-Cu liquid phase during deformation. The employment of copper coated SiC instead of bare SiC particles for preparing the composites was found not improving the properties.

Silicon nitride - silicon carbide composite was developed by using an abrasive SiC powders as a raw material. The composites were prepared by mixing abrasive SiC powder with silicon, pressing and sintering at under nitrogen atmosphere in atmosphere controlled vacuum furnace. The proportion of silicon in the initial mixtures varied from 20 to 50 wt%. After sintering, crystalline phases and microstructure were characterized. All composites consisted of and as the bonding phases in SiC matrix. Their physical and mechanical properties were also determined. It was found that the density of the obtained composites increased with an increase in the content formed in the reaction.

Fabrication and investigation of composite made of graphite, SiC, mullite and aluminum as the additive are the aim of this project. Aluminum acts as an anti-oxidant. SiC is a non-metallic anti-oxidant that increases composite strength. Different compositions with influent percents of aluminum have been selected to determine product specifications by XRD, SEM and STA methods. Results show that the composition of 40wt% graphite-20% SiC- 20% mullite-20% aluminum is a more robust and occurs at elevated temperatures than other graphite combustion composites.