Preparation of SiC powders by carbothermal reduction with bamboo charcoal as renewable carbon source

Xingzhong Guo,Lin Zhu,Wenyan Li,Hui Yang

doi:10.1007/s40145-013-0050-4

Abstract

Bamboo charcoal was expected to be a renewable carbon source for carbide materials in carbothermal reduction because of its superior characteristics. SiC powders with characteristic shapes were fabricated by carbothermal reduction with industrial silica sol and bamboo charcoal particles as silicon and carbon sources respectively, and the effects of reacting temperature and time on shape evolutions and properties of the as-prepared SiC powders were investigated. The silica sol/bamboo charcoal system was firstly transformed into SiO2/C system by the transition of silica sol and graphitization of bamboo charcoal, and the carbothermal reduction between SiO2 and C occurred at/above 1600°C. The characteristic shapes of SiC particles were transformed from string-beads-like to dumbbell-like and rod-like with the increase of reacting temperature. The prepared SiC powders are expected to become new raw material for silicon carbide ceramic composites.

Highlights

Carbides (MexCy, Me = Si, B, Ti, Zr, W, etc.) are a whole family of advanced materials and have been widely applied in modern industrial fields because of their unique properties, such as high mechanical properties, good resistance to corrosion, and high thermal stabilities [1,2,3]
It is hopeful that bamboo charcoal is used as a new and renewable carbon source for the synthesis of carbide materials
We demonstrate the synthesis of SiC powder material by carbothermal reduction using bamboo charcoal as carbon source

Summary

Introduction

Carbothermal reduction is the preferred method for industrial synthesis of carbide powder materials [3,4,5,6,7]. The choice of carbon source is one of the key conditions of the carbothermal reduction and is the decisive factor for carbide synthesis. Journal of Advanced Ceramics 2013, 2(2): 128–134 bamboo charcoal possesses superior features unmatched by other carbon sources: 1 high specific surface area (up to 700 m2/g); 2 high carbon content (more than 95%) and containing Si, Mg, Ca, P, Al, and other trace elements; 3 unique graphitization and layered microcrystalline structure; 4 good electrical properties (3.85 Ω·cm at 1000 °C) [9]. It is hopeful that bamboo charcoal is used as a new and renewable carbon source for the synthesis of carbide materials

Methods

Results

Conclusion