FORMATION OF SILICON CARBIDE WHISKER AND PRODUCTION OF CERAMIC-BASED COMPOSITE MATERIAL REINFORCED THEREWITH

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a silicon carbide whisker improved in hardness, corrosion resistance, wear resistance and toughness by reaction of whisker-growing adhesive with a mixture of specific ore powder and carbon in a nonoxidative atmosphere followed by removing reaction residues and the adhesive. SOLUTION: First, ore containing Si, C, MgO, TiO2 , Fe2 O3 , NaO, alumina, K2 O and moisture, etc., is ground to 10-50m in particle diameter, and the resultant powder is mixed with 4-40wt.% of carbon. Secondly, the mixture is reacted with a whisker-growing adhesive in a non-oxidative atmosphere at 1350-1500 deg.C for 10-48h to grow SiC whisker with the adhesive attached thereto. Next, the adhesive stuck to the SiC whisker after grown is tapped to remove reaction residues such as unreacted silica or alumina followed by heating in an oxidative atmosphere at about 700 deg.C for 3h or so to oxidatively remove the adhesive from the whisker.