Silicon carbide (SiC) is an outstanding non-oxide ceramic that excels in both thermally and mechanically demanding applications, from abrasives for its hardness to refractories due to high temperature resistance and shock protection and electronics due to superior conductivity and dielectric constant values. It has many applications across a wide spectrum of industries.
DuraShock from IPS is an innovative ceramic composite designed to combine superior ballistic performance with cost and weight savings considerations.
Hardness
Silicon Carbide (SiC) is one of the hardest industrial materials, outperforming both diamond and alumina ceramics in terms of hardness. Due to being both lighter and more resilient than either option, SiC makes for ideal applications like ballistics, petrochemical industry machinery and microelectronic devices.
SiC is a semiconductor material, found naturally as the extremely rare mineral moissanite; since 1893 however, synthetic silicon carbide powder has been mass produced to be used as an abrasive. Sintering then bonds it together into ceramics hard enough to withstand heavy impact or crushing.
Silicon carbide ceramics are known for their hardness and low density, which make them suitable as abrasives with superior cutting, grinding, milling, drilling and turning capabilities. Refractories and ceramics use silicon carbide ceramics due to its heat and shock resistance; additionally ballistics use it because of its low coefficient of friction [101].
Silicon carbide is one of the premier engineering ceramic materials due to its impressive physical-chemical characteristics such as high-temperature stability, good chemical stability, low thermal expansion rates and excellent wear resistance. Furthermore, silicon carbide can be manufactured into various shapes and sizes using various sintering processes.
Thermal Conductivity
Silicon carbide is an outstanding non-oxide ceramic material used in an assortment of thermally and mechanically demanding products, from abrasives and wear-resistant parts, refractories and ceramics, refractories for heat resistance, thermal expansion and low thermal expansion, electronics as thermal conductivity applications and wear resistant parts. Silicon carbide offers excellent hardness values which makes it popular choice in these applications.
Silicon Carbide can withstand temperatures up to 1600degC without suffering significant strength loss, boasting outstanding chemical purity, great resistance against oxidation and corrosion as well as superior fatigue resistance.
Thermal conductivity in SiC is closely tied to its phase composition and microstructure, particularly that found in equiaxed-grain b-SiC. To investigate these parameters further, various SiC powders containing 6H, 4H and 3C polytypes with various amounts of Y2O3 and La2O3 content were densified via hot pressing prior to an annealing treatment and measured using laser flash technique for their thermal conductivities.
Results indicated that equiaxed-grain b-SiC had the highest thermal conductivity among all tested samples at lower temperature ranges, yet performance decreased with increasing temperature. Meanwhile, ceramics with grain sizes less than 2 microns demonstrated superior overall performance at higher temperatures – suggesting they may be suitable for power electronics applications.
Corrosion Resistance
Silicon carbide can withstand a wide range of chemical environments. It is resistant to being attacked by molten metals, alkalis or salts; and can withstand attacks by acids, bases and hydrofluoric acid. Silicon carbide’s corrosion resistance is enhanced by its dense oxide layer which protects it against direct reaction with substrate material; additionally it serves as an oxygen reservoir; this means that over time oxygen from air may replace this sacrificial layer as its degradation progresses.
Silicon carbide boasts superior mechanical properties even after exposure to harsh corrosive conditions, including its high flexural strength, low expansion rate and resistance to thermal shock, which allows it to endure temperatures as high as 1600degC without loss of strength.
Silicon carbide’s superior properties make it an excellent material choice for use in harsh environments, including resistance to corrosion, oxidation and temperature changes. Due to this property it has long been utilized as part of refractory systems such as burner nozzles, jet and flame tubes as well as industrial furnaces; additionally it’s often employed as an abrasive and wear-resistant component of ceramic tiles, sintering molds grinding wheels or even machining tools.
Foamed silicon carbide is a ceramic material which can be heated by electricity, making it suitable for heating corrosive materials in chemical factories and semiconductor fields. Due to its corrosion resistance and electrical properties, foamed silicon carbide also serves as a good material for nonlinear resistance elements and lightning arresters.
Wear Resistance
Silicon carbide ceramic has a hardness close to diamond and can withstand high levels of wear and friction, as well as offering impressive chemical stability, thermal conductivity, energy absorption through friction as well as being one of the strongest advanced ceramic materials available today. Furthermore, this material’s ability to absorb energy through friction makes it an attractive option for hard armour ballistic protection on vehicles – reliably stopping projectiles while dissipating most of their energy through soft elastic polymer matrix material allows lightweight yet high performance silicon carbide components which help cut vehicle weight as well as fuel consumption costs significantly.
As well as possessing outstanding tribological properties, this material boasts excellent corrosion resistance – making it a prime candidate for use in refractory applications such as combustion rooms, flue gas desulphurisation plants and burner nozzles. Furthermore, dynamic sealing technologies use this material as part of mechanical seals, pumps and bearings – giving this material even further applications beyond refractories.
Silicon carbide stands out as an excellent material choice due to its hardness, strength and chemical resistance, making it suitable for lining chutes, hoppers, agitators and shredders in recycling and waste processing plants. Silicon carbide helps prevent persistent wear modes such as abrasion and erosion that lead to costly shutdowns and repairs; Saint-Gobain Performance Refractories and Ceramics can create engineered shapes tailored specifically for your material handling applications that increase wear resistance while lengthening component service life.