Corrosion Behavior of Sintered Silicon Carbide in Water Vapor at 300 deg C

摘要

We compared the corrosion behavior of sintered silicon carbide (SiC) in saturated water vapor at 300 deg C and in a 300 deg C water environment. Significant intergranular corrosion occurred in the water vapor. The samples exposed to it lost more weight than the samples in the water. No surface scale, such as amorphous SiO_2, formed in the water vapor, a fact suggesting that volatile species, such as Si(OH)_4, were produced. After exposure for 10 days, the samples in both environments lost about 80 percent of their initial flexural strength.