Slip Casting and Sintering of Silicon Carbide (Part 1)

The slip casting of silicon carbide was studied to develop a forming method for the fabrication of engineering ceramics. In this study, α-silicon carbide powder produced by the Acheson method was used. The isoelectric point of α-silicon carbide powder was determined to be pH 3.5 from zeta-potential measurement. By using styrene-maleic acid copolymer as a deflocculant, high density green bodies were obtained from a slurry containing 60mass% solids. The SiC sintered at 2200°C for 4h in Ar atmosphere showed a high density of 3.10g·cm-3, flexural strength of 400MPa and Weibull modulus of 9.4.