Low temperature sintering of nano-SiC using a novel Al8B4C7 additive

Abstract

Al8B4C7 was used as a sintering additive for the densification of nano-SiC powder. The average grain size was approximately 70 nm after sintering SiC-12.5wt% Al8B4C7 at 1550 °C. The densification rate strongly depended on the sintering temperature and the applied pressure. The rearrangement of SiC particles occurred at the initial shrinkage, while viscous flow and liquid phase sintering became important at the middle and final stage of densification.