Effect of Grain Boundaries on Thermal Conductivity of Silicon Carbide Ceramic at 5 to 1300 K

The thermal conductivity of a SiC ceramic was measured as 270 W·m −1 ·K −1 at room temperature. At low temperatures ( T < 25 K), the decrease in the conductivity was proportional to T 3 on a logarithmic scale, which indicated that the conductivity was controlled by boundaries. The calculated phonon mean free path in the ceramic increased with decreased temperature, but was limited to ∼4 μm, a length almost equal to the grain size, at temperatures below 30 K. We concluded that the thermal conductivity of the ceramic below 30 K was influenced significantly by grain boundaries and grain junctions.