Reaction sintering of SiC using Nd:YAG laser

Reference	Presenter	Authors (Institution)	Abstract
01-048	Satoshi Suehiro	Suehiro, S.(Japan Fine Ceramics Center); Kimura, T.(Japan Fine Ceramics Center);	Silicon carbide (SiC) is a representative high temperature material due to its high creep resistance. However, sintering of SiC is difficult without additives because of the covalent nature of the Si-C bonds, and reaction sintering process (infiltrating a porous compact of SiC and C with liquid Si) is now widely used for industrial manufacturing of SiC ceramics [S.Suyama et al., Diamond and Real material 12 (2003)]. In this study, reaction sintering of SiC was investigated using Nd :YAG laser as a heating source. A compressed powder mixture pellet (10 mm in diameter, and 1 mm in thickness) of SiC, Si and C were prepared by cold isostatic press, and defocused laser (spot size: 10 mm) was repeatedly scanned on the pellet in Ar atmosphere. After the laser irradiation, the pellet had dense and isotropic surface microstructure, and formation of beta-SiC was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The reaction depth was 10~30 micro m from the irradiated surface and unreacted Si or C was not observed on the surface. Short-time formation of a thin sintered layer is a key process for additional manufacturing (3D printing) of ceramics, and it is expected that 3D printing of SiC parts could be performed by repeating the preparation technique of SiC-Si-C source powder layer and the laser-heating reaction sintering. This work was supported by CSTI, SIP (Innovative Design/Manufacturing Technologies).
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