What Is Silicon Carbide Used For?

Silicon carbide (SiC) is an inorganic compound composed of silicon and carbon. While SiC occurs naturally as the extremely rare mineral moissanite, mass production has started in 1893 in powder form as an abrasive.

Grains of SiC can be combined through sintering to produce hard ceramics that can be used in applications that demand durability, such as car brakes or bulletproof vest ceramic plates. They’re also found in electronic devices that operate at higher temperatures and voltages.

Abrasive

Abrasive silicon carbide is an extremely tough material used extensively in many industrial processes. This sandpaper-like product can be used for dry and wet sanding to remove rust from metals and glasses as well as deburring and polishing applications.

Silicon carbide (SiC) is an organic chemical compound composed of silicon and carbon that forms naturally as the mineral moissanite; however, mass production has begun in 1893 for use as an abrasive. When fused together via sintering it forms extremely hard ceramics which have many uses in applications like flooring or armor plating.

Black silicon carbide powder has quickly become one of the premier choices for abrasives due to its hardness and long-term performance, often replacing aluminum oxide abrasives in applications that demand high levels of durability and efficiency. Black silicon carbide also finds application in metallurgical applications where its resistance to heat shock and thermal expansion are essential, and semiconductor and electronics creation; its superior electrical properties being leveraged.

Refractory

Silicon carbide is one of the most advanced refractory materials. This material features exceptional chemical stability and thermal conductivity with an extremely low coefficient of expansion, in addition to strong mechanical and abrasion resistance properties and being lightweight.

Glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) can be found in many industrial applications, from glassmaking and defense applications, such as armor protection for tanks and armored vehicles, to sanitaryware, kiln furnaces, foundries and muffles.

Thermal insulation ceramics are used in waste incinerators, rotary kilns and blast furnaces due to their thermal insulating properties and strength. Furthermore, castings made with this material have found use in smelting furnace linings, supports and saggers linings as well as castings supporting them linings supporting and saggers used by smelters. Its main application though lies within production of refractory ceramics for thermal insulation reinforcement wear resistance as well as reinforcement from dry pressing processes with dry pressing reaction bonds or extrusion processes that yield products with exceptional chemical and mechanical performance characteristics making this material perfect for extreme conditions use.

Electric Vehicles

Silicon carbide has made waves in the electric vehicle sector as an essential part of DC-to-DC converters and onboard chargers, alongside gallium nitride semiconductors and other semiconductors, for helping EVs address battery charging issues associated with traditional silicon inverters.

Silicon Carbide Abrasives – Silicon carbide ceramic powder is widely used for making abrasive products like sandpaper and grinding wheels due to its hard, resilient surface that withstands wear-rates at very high rates.

Semiconductor – SiC is typically an electrical insulator; however, by adding impurities or dopants such as dopants it can act as a P-type semiconductor and be used in many different applications from power transistors to high temperature diodes and sensors.

Due to its low thermal expansion and rigidity, silicon carbide makes an excellent material for telescope mirrors. While naturally occurring moissanite can be found in small amounts in meteorites and kimberlite deposits, most silicon carbide sold worldwide comes from synthetic production facilities – making decorative items such as synthetic moissanite jewels possible.

Semiconductor

Silicon Carbide (SiC) is one of the lightest, hardest, and strongest advanced ceramic materials on the market today. Additionally, it is non-toxic and resistant to acids, lyes and corrosion.

SiC is created through the combination of silica sand with carbon-rich materials like petroleum coke in an electric furnace. This results in the formation of green or black crystallized SiC with different properties depending on its purity of raw materials used to make it.

SiC has an exceptionally wide band gap, making it suitable for high voltage power semiconductor devices such as Schottky Barrier Diodes and MOSFETs that operate at higher temperatures while offering reduced turn-on resistance compared to silicon (Si).

Moissanite, the natural mineral form of SiC, can only be found in small quantities in meteorites and corundum deposits; all jewelry-grade moissanite sold today is synthetic; most SiC used in electronics applications comes from synthesizing SiC powder using various methods.