Special Issue
  • A Simple Synthetic Route of SiC Nanopowder Derived from Ultra-high Molecular Polycarbosilane

  • Sung Gun Bae*, Chang-Jin Park*, Dong-Geun Shin*†

  • * Aerospace Convergence Materials Center, Korea Institute of Ceramic Engineering & Technology, Jinju 52851, Republic of Korea

  • This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Ultra-high molecular weight polycarbosilane (UHMW-PCS) was facilely synthesized through a catalytic process using a boron-based catalyst. Liquid silane, used as a starting material, was polymerized by adding B(OH)3 in an autoclave synthesis vessel, and polymerization was carried out effectively when the B(OH)3 content was 1 wt%. The synthesized UHMW-PCS was easily ground into fine powders of hundreds of nanometers in size through a ball mill, and SiC nanopowders were manufactured through direct heat treatment to 1200 and 1600°C without a curing step such as thermal oxidation. In this process, UHMW-PCS showed a high ceramic yield of over 92wt%, and the obtained SiC nanopowders showed a binary particle size distribution consisting of primary particles with a size of 50~100 nm and agglomerated secondary particles with a size of 300~100 nm. SiC nanopowders synthesized through this cost-effective process are expected to be applied to ultra-high temperature ceramic fiber composites or 3D printing SiC.


Keywords: Ultra-high molecular weight polycarbosilane, SiC nanopowders, Liquid silane

This Article

Correspondence to

  • Dong-Geun Shin

  • Aerospace Convergence Materials Center, Korea Institute of Ceramic Engineering & Technology, Jinju 52851, Republic of Korea

  • E-mail: dgshin73@kicet.re.kr