Preparation of β-SiC by combustion synthesis in a large-scale reactor

The feasibility of 5 kg β-SiC synthesized in one batch was demonstrated through igniting the mixture of Si, C-black and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) under different nitrogen pressures. The effect of experimental parameters, including the contents of PTFE, nitrogen pressure, preheating, and raw materials distribution forms were investigated. The results show that the products are β-SiC with equiaxed grains. The average grain size is less than 200 nm. The powders loaded loosely promote reaction heat dispersing, resulting in small grains. High purity β-SiC powders are obtained when the PTFE content is as low as 5wt%, which simplifies the process and decreases the cost effectively. The ceramic sintered from the obtained β-SiC powders presents the hardness of 22.20 GPa, the bending strength as high as 715.15 MPa and the fracture toughness of 8.179 MPa·m^1/2, which are higher than those of ceramics fabricated with α-SiC produced by combustion synthesis.