Oxidation bonding of porous silicon carbide ceramics

A oxidation-bonding technique was successfully developed to fabricate porous SiC ceramics using the powder mixtures of SiC, Al2O3 and C. The oxidation-bonding behavior, mechanical strength, open porosity and pore-size distribution were investigated as a function of Al2O3 content as well as graphite particle size and volume fraction. The pore size and porosity were observed to be strongly dependent on graphite particle size and volume fraction. In contrast, the degree of SiC oxidation was not significantly affected by graphite particle size and volume fraction. In addition, it was found that the fracture strength of oxidation-bonded SiC ceramics at a given porosity decreases with the pore size but increases with the neck size. Due to the enhancement of neck growth by the additions of Al2O3, a high strength of 39.6 MPa was achieved at a porosity of 36.4%. Moreover, such a porous ceramic exhibited an excellent oxidation resistance and a high Weibull modulus. (C) 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers.