Handbook of SiC properties for fuel performance modeling

Three silicon oxycarbide glasses (SiCO) with increasing C content were obtained through pyrolysis in inert atmosphere at 1000 °C of sol−gel derived siloxane networks containing Si−CH3 and Si−H bonds. The glasses were further annealed at 1200, 1400, and 1500 °C to follow their evolution at high temperature. Quantitative information concerning the structure of glasses before and after annealing at high temperature was collected with a wide range of techniques (some of them used for the first time in this field) with the aim of probing the following:  (i) the short-range order and chemical composition (29Si and 1H MAS NMR, RDF derived from X-ray and neutron scattering, inelastic neutron scattering, FT-IR, and elemental analysis), and (ii) the long-range order (X-ray and neutron diffraction) and microstructural features (HR-TEM combined with electron diffraction, Raman, porosity, and surface area measurements). This extensive collection of data, carried out on the same set of specimens, provided detailed and ...

Systematic Structural Characterization of the High-Temperature Behavior of Nearly Stoichiometric Silicon Oxycarbide Glasses

High-density SiC-AIN compositions were fabricated from powder mixtures by hot-pressing in the 1700° to 2300°C temperature range. At 2100°C, a 2H solid solution was found from =35 to 100 wt% AlN. The single-phase solid solution samples had steep composition gradients of >10%/μm within the grains. Lattice parameters closely followed Vegard's law. For compositions with <35% AIN, multiphase assemblages were found. Increasing grain size was observed for increasing firing temperature for SiC and AIN. Grain size of the solid solutions was significantly smaller than for SiC or AIN fired to the same temperature. Microhardness values decreased linearly in the solid solution region with increasing AIN content. Flexural strengths of SiC and AIN decreased with increasing firing temperature and increasing grain size. The strengths of SiC, AIN, and the solid solutions were low for materials hot-pressed at 2100°C.

Composition and Properties of Hot-Pressed SiC-AIN Solid Solutions

Sublimation growth of SiC single crystalline ingots on faces perpendicular to the (0001) basal plane

X-ray diffraction patterns or beta-SiC (3C or the cubic polytype or sic) powders often exhibit an additional peak at d = 0.266 nm, high background intensity around the (111) peak, and relative intensities for peaks which differ from those predicted from the crystal structure. Computer simulations were used to show that all these features are due to stacking faults in the powders and not due to the presence of other polytypes in the powders. Such simulations allow diffraction patterns to be generated for different types, frequencies, and spatial distribution or faults. Comparison of the simulation results to the XRD data indicates that the B-SiC particles consist either of heavily faulted clusters distributed irregularly between regions that have only occasional faults or twins, or the powders consist of two types of particles with different populations of faults: those with a high density of faults and those with only twins or occasional faults. Additional information is necessary to determine which description is correct. However, the simulation results can be used to rule out certain fault configurations.

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P. T. B. Shaffer

Papers

A review of the structure of silicon carbide