Silicon carbide is an extremely hard, non-oxide ceramic with outstanding heat resistance and mechanical strength, used widely in products ranging from abrasives to bulletproof vest plates.
Reaction bonding was one of the earliest manufacturing methods used to produce silicon carbide. Reagent Bonded Silicon Carbide (RBSC) is cost-effective and easy to machine, and offers various characteristics including high temperature strength, thermal shock resistance, hardness, low expansion coefficient, chemical corrosion resistance resistance radiation damage resistance mechanical properties that make it attractive for industrial use.
Hardness
Silicon carbide ceramics boast among the highest hardness ratings available today, second only to diamond and boron carbide. Their exceptional hardness makes these materials extremely resilient against wear, abrasion, and impact; hence why these types of ceramics are frequently utilized as bulletproof plates protecting people and property against moderately violent ballistic attacks.
Silicon carbide’s ability to resist harsh chemical environments, maintain integrity at high temperatures, and withstand mechanical stress is testament to its versatility. This material can be utilized in components like bearings and mechanical seals used across numerous industrial applications.
Silicon carbide boasts strong corrosion resistance and performs reliably over an extended period in acid, alkali, and oxidative environments. Furthermore, its Young’s modulus exceeds 400 GPa.
Vickers Hardness HV of four silicon carbide ceramics with different porosities (thicknesses = 5%, 16% and 20%) was investigated from 20-900 degC and it was found that porosity significantly affected its Vickers Hardness HV throughout this temperature range – as did a thermomechanical hardness region near its maximum value; this indicates that ceramic hardness does not correspond directly with its yield strength but instead depends on fracture conditions rather than yield strength alone.
Corrosion Resistance
Silicon carbide ceramics provide exceptional protection from corrosion and erosion in harsh environments such as acidic or basic slags. Their strength remains unaffected at higher temperatures due to low oxidation rates and large Young’s moduli; making these materials useful in chemical processing, energy technology, papermaking and metallurgical machinery applications.
Corrosion in corrosive environments can result in pitting of materials, which reduces their mechanical strength or increases the probability of cracking under thermal or mechanical stress. SiC components may also develop small pore structures which significantly diminish strength, shortening lifespan in service conditions.
Silicon carbide boasts superior abrasion resistance compared to both boron nitride and aluminum oxide, making it an excellent material for protective armor applications that requires small footprint ceramics. Furthermore, its ballistic performance exceeds aluminum oxide considerably while surpassing even that of boron nitride making it suitable for military as well as civilian safe applications.
Reaction-bonded and solid state sintered silicon carbide (SSiC) can be machined with exceptional precision to tight tolerances, boasting exceptional heat resistance with minimal creep characteristics and maintaining their strength up to 1600 deg C – ideal for load bearing applications.
Thermal Conductivity
Silicon carbide ceramics offer superior thermal conductivity, mechanical strength and chemical inertness for use in many applications, including melting furnace refractories, metallurgical machinery and electric power generation. Their strong performance at high temperatures, low thermal expansion rate, hardness rating and corrosion resistance make them excellent structural ceramics.
Multiple methods exist for producing high-performance monolithic SiC ceramics, including hot pressing of pure SiC powder, direct sintering, reaction bonding, recrystallization sintering and microwave sintering. Each of these processes have optimal sintering conditions that depend on raw material composition, the presence or absence of sintering aids and shape processing techniques; additionally research efforts are underway to reduce fabrication induced flaws, minimize volume changes during manufacturing, enhance sintering aids and develop transformation-toughened particle-toughened ceramics.
Silicon carbide boasts excellent thermal properties as well as outstanding fracture toughness at 6.8 MPa m0.5 and Young’s modulus of 440 GPa, both demonstrating its exceptional strength under stress. Furthermore, silicon carbide has no chemical corrosion problems and can withstand abrasion and impact in harsh corrosive environments – all hallmarks of an excellent material suitable for modern engineering structures such as national defense, space technology and automobile industry applications. With these unique attributes combined with its ability to withstand extreme temperature variations and thermal shock resistance, silicon carbide has become one of the most widely-used structural ceramics among modern engineers; irreplaceable in high performance industrial applications including national defense, space technology and automobile industries alike.
Wear Resistance
Silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics boast exceptional wear resistance, making it ideal for components that must operate in environments which demand both thermal and mechanical performance. This makes this material especially suited for components designed to operate under stress conditions such as thermal cycling.
Silicon carbide’s resistance to high temperatures and chemical attack make it an excellent material choice for furnace components such as burners, hot sections and radiators. Furthermore, silicon carbide is widely utilized in steelmaking processes as well as alumina refinement and semiconductor production as well as electrical applications including heating elements, thermistors and varistors.
Silicon carbide’s hardness, corrosion resistance, and low thermal expansion coefficient make it an excellent material choice for bearings, liner tubes, and seal faces. It resists abrasion and erosion easily even at elevated temperatures while remaining acid and lye-proof.
Silicon carbide boasts an exceptional Young’s modulus of over 400 GPa, making it suitable for use as an engineering material. Due to its resistance against oxidation and temperature performance, silicon carbide ceramics have found widespread application across industries including national defense, space technology, information electronics and automobile production. IPS offers all principal forms of silicon carbide ceramics including sintered silicon carbide (SiC), reaction bonded silicon carbide (RB) and calcined silica ceramics.