Development of high-strength reaction-sintered silicon carbide

Abstract

Reaction sintering is one of the most attractive manufacturing processes of silicon carbide (SiC), because of dense structure, low processing temperature, good shape capability, low cost and high purity. However, mechanical properties of reaction-sintered SiC (RS-SiC) were typically much lower than normal sintered one. Particularly, the bending strength was approximately 300 MPa. In this study, in order to develop the high-strength RS-SiC, effect of the microstructure on the bending strength was examined. The bending strength of RS-SiC was recognized to be increased with decreasing the residual silicon (Si) size, and high-strength RS-SiC has been newly developed. The strength over 1000 MPa was obtained to control the residual Si size under 100 nm. Some other properties of developed high-strength RS-SiC were also evaluated.