Optimizing Electrical and Mechanical Properties of Reaction-Sintered SiC by using Different-Sized SiC Particles in Preform

A series of reaction-sintered SiC was fabricated from preforms with varying volume fractions of two resin-coated SiC particles of different sizes (63 and 18 ㎛). The electrical resistivity and mechanical strength were eventually optimized at the small particle volume fraction of 0.3~0.4, at which point the porosity of the preform was minimized. This study experimentally proves that additional processes after the formation of the preform, such as silicon infiltration and reaction sintering, do not apparently alter the optimum volume fraction of the preform packing, predicted by an existing analytical model based on solid packing. Thus, the volume fraction of particles of different sizes can be determined practically through the solid packing model to fabricate RSSCs with optimal properties.