Silicon Carbide

Silicon Carbide Latest News

Recently, the Chief Minister of Odisha performed the groundbreaking ceremony for  the country’s first end-to-end silicon carbide semiconductor production plant. 

About Silicon Carbide

• It is a synthetically produced crystalline compound of silicon and carbon.
• Its chemical formula is SiC and it is the most widely used non-oxide ceramic.
• It was discovered by the American inventor Edward G. Acheson in 1891. 

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Properties of Silicon Carbide

• Hardness: It is the hardest ceramic material and has excellent thermal conductivity, low thermal expansion.
• Conductivity: It is also classed as a semiconductor, having an electrical conductivity between that of metals and insulating materials.
• It has excellent mechanical properties, and excellent resistance to wear and oxidation.

Applications of Silicon Carbide

• Abrasives: Its primary application is as an abrasive because of its high hardness, which is surpassed only by diamond, cubic boron nitride, and boron carbide.
• Refractory linings: It is used in refractory linings and heating elements for industrial furnaces, in wear-resistant parts for pumps and rocket engines.
• Semiconducting substrates: It is used in semiconducting substrates for light-emitting diodes.
• It is a promising ceramic material with excellent thermo mechanical characteristics.

Source: IE