Plasma Process Routes to Synthesis of Carbide, Boride and Nitride Ceramic Powders

Abstract

ABSTRACTAn iterative technique to develop plasma processing, consisting of identifying materials with unique properties, calculating conversion efficiencies, product purity and power from thermodynamic data for the chemical reactions selected to produce it and modeling the process mathematically and physically to determine capital and labor costs is illustrated with production of silicon carbide and titanium diboride in Alcoa's DC plasma facility. The work shows that submicron silicon carbide and titanium diboride containing less than 0.2% oxygen can be produced with plasmas at costs competitive with traditional processes. It has also been reported that aluminum nitride, a material which has the high thermal conductivity needed for high power electronic substrates, can be satisfactorily produced by reacting aluminum powder with nitrogen in an RF plasma system. Future application of plasmas for production of ceramics will depend on discovery of unique properties and cost effective process optimization.