An Overview of SiC Material

Basically, silicon carbide ceramic is one of the most advanced materials. As the name suggests, it is made from carbon and silicon. In nature, it’s found as a rare form of mineral moissanite. Since 1893, silicon carbide ceramic has been in production. It is possible to bind the grains of this material. The idea is to make something really hard. Since there is a rising demand for marine engineering, the automobile industry, space technology, and nuclear energy, the demand for this material has also been on the rise. Let’s find out more.

These ceramic offers a wide range of excellent features like chemical corrosion resistance, thermal shock resistance, increase hardness, thermal expansion coefficient, reduced wear resistance, and high-temperature resistance.

This is the reason this material is commonly used in many industries, such as energy, information electronics, space technology, environmental protection, chemical industry, automobile industry.

Nowadays, these ceramics are used in the form of corrosion-resistant containers in a lot of industries, such as the petrochemical industry. This material is used in different types of devices, such as mechanical seal parts, bearings, and cutting tools. Apart from this, it is an ideal choice for different types of engine components, rocket nozzles, gas turbines, and many other things.

Fundamental Properties

Chemical Properties

In an oxygen reaction, when the temperature hits 1300 Celsius, a protective layer appears on these crystal surface. When the protective layers become thicker, the inside of silicon carbide becomes even stronger.

As far as compound resistance, alkalinity and acidity are concerned, silicon carbide comes with excellent acid resistance. However, it does not have good enough alkaline resistance.

Physical Properties

From the density point of view, almost all types of silicon carbide crystals are the same. When it comes to hardness, this material stands at it 9.5 Mohs. Besides, the Knoop hardness level is between 2670 and 2815 kg/mm. The good thing is that this level of hardness is much higher than most of the abrasive materials, such as diamond.

The thermal shock resistance and thermal conductivity are also very good. Since the thermal expansion parameters are not that impressive, SiC ceramic is one of the best refractory materials.

Electrical Properties

At constant temperature, commercial silicon carbide ceramic serves as a type of semiconductor. The internal resistance of this material comes down when the temperature increases. Besides, the conductivity of this material is different when it comes to impurities.

Good Hydrophilicity

When it comes to hydrophilicity, silicon carbide ceramic features strong covalent bonds. Based on the electronegativity calculations of Pauling, the ionic property of this material is just 12%. So, we can say that this material features not-so-good wear resistance, big elastic modulus, and a high level of hardness.

Long story short, this was an overview of silicon carbide ceramic. Hopefully, this overview will help you get a deeper understanding of this material. Since this material has a lot of great features, it is used in a wide range of industries.