Development of Bio-SiC materials with tailor made microstructure and properties using natural biopolymeric cellulose template are of great current interest. Porous (3-SiC ceramic has been fabricated by different methods using wood charcoal infiltrated with silica sol as well as single step method by using pine wood powder. Pine wood charcoal impregnated with resin and subsequent carbothermal reduction process at 1650°C in inert Ar atmosphere produced light weight biomorphic ?-SiC ceramic with good mechanical properties and porosities. The highly anisotropic cellulose structure of pine wood generates novel cellulose ceramics with a meso and macro porous structure pseudomorphous to the initial porous tissue skeleton. Microstructural observation and phase identification of resulting wood ceramics have been performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. Weight loss during heating of wood and phenolic resin in N_2 atmosphere was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Experimental results showed that porous ?-SiC possessed topologically homogenous pore structure. This provides a low- cost and ecofriendly route to advanced ceramic materials, with near-net shape potential.
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