The Versatility of Silicon Carbide

Silicon carbide is one of the hardest engineering materials on Earth. Additionally, its chemical inertness means it resists corrosion in aqueous environments and resists damage caused by acid rain or flood waters.

Nitride-bonded silicon carbide offers excellent wear resistance. When tested against various soil conditions, its wear was far lower than boron-containing steel or padding weld, even in light or heavy soil conditions.

Good Mechanical Strength and Toughness

Silicon carbide stands out among advanced ceramic materials for its remarkable physical, mechanical and chemical properties that make it an invaluable material in industrial applications. Furthermore, its ability to remain intact even under extreme environmental conditions speaks volumes for this versatile material’s adaptability.

Nitride-bonded silicon carbide not only boasts exceptional temperature strength, but it also exhibits remarkable mechanical strength and toughness – qualities which make it suitable for applications involving hard particles or surfaces abrasion, impact damage and mechanical shocks. Together these properties make nitride bonded silicon carbide the perfect material to handle these tasks effectively.

This material is versatile enough to meet the design requirements for different applications and industries; with excellent wear resistance, thermal stability, chemical inertness, thermal expansion resistance and chemical compatibility properties. These attributes make it suitable for oil & gas, steel fabrication, machine building, electric power distribution networks and aerospace sectors.

Dependent upon the application, different forms of nitride bonded silicon carbide can be employed; such as recrystallized, reaction bonded and sintered SiC. Recrystallized SiC (RSIC) typically exhibits 11-15 percent open porosity when sintered at temperatures ranging between 2,300 degC and 2,550 degC; it then develops an extremely compact grain structure that results in high mechanical strengths with excellent fatigue resistance properties.

Reaction bonded silicon carbide, on the other hand, is sintered at lower temperatures to preserve its high open porosity for greater strength and wear resistance. This process produces a sinter matrix with smaller pores to provide increased flexibility and toughness – ideal for applications requiring both coarse and fine grains such as grinding and cutting tools.

Nitride-bonded silicon carbide is an ideal material for soil working applications due to its superior abrasion resistance in diverse soil conditions. A comparison study on the wearing behaviours of Nitricide Backed Silicon Carbide, Special Boron Steel and C + Cr + Nb Padding Weld showed that its material wore less intensively when working medium and heavy soil than any of the other materials tested.

Chemically Inert

Silicon nitride’s inert properties make it the ideal material for use in demanding industrial applications, from non-toxic acids, bases, solvents, high mechanical strength and hardness to good abrasion resistance, impact strength and thermal conductivity. Furthermore, this highly stable material can withstand elevated temperatures without suffering significant performance loss.

Nitride-bonded silicon carbide is an ideal material choice when corrosion resistance is of paramount importance. Its surface has proven resistant to most chemicals and acids – even hydrofluoric and sulphuric acids! Furthermore, its dense material with minimal porosity prevents diffusion of corrosion-causing agents into its structure.

Silicon nitride is also an ideal material choice when thermal shock resistance is crucial. The bonding phase provides a protective shield between coarse grains of silicon carbide, helping prevent sudden temperature shifts from causing damage.

Nitride-bonded silicon carbide boasts outstanding resistance to wear. Not only is its tough surface resistant to impact damage and wear-and-tear wear, but its exceptional abrasive resistance makes it a suitable material for lining refractory furnaces and kiln furniture – adding aggregate can even further increase this feature of this material’s properties.

Nitride-bonded silicon carbide offers another advantage by being exceptionally resistant to brittle cracking. This is largely owed to its presence of reinforcing phase grains throughout its body – increasing load bearing capacity and contributing to an extended service life.

Silicon carbide nitride can be produced in various ways. Reaction bonded silicon carbide (RBSiC) is one such technique; this material is created by injecting liquid silicon into porous silicon carbide bodies, producing a composite material with silicon nitride bonding phases for improved thermal shock resistance and moderate strength.

Direct sintered silicon carbide (DSiC) is produced through the process of sintering raw silicon carbide powder into dense material with minimal porosity, yet poor thermal shock and abrasion resistance.

High Resistance to Corrosion

Nitride-bonded silicon carbide displays outstanding corrosion resistance across an array of environments. It can withstand the attack from acids, molten salts and halogens without suffering damage; in part thanks to its high chemical inertness.

The nitride bond between silicon carbide and silica layers provides a protective barrier, limiting exposure of substrate to any reactive species directly, instead relying on diffusion for oxygen diffusion to oxidize silica layer and dissolution prevention from dissolving substrate. Therefore, erosion rates for nitride bonded silicon carbides tend to be considerably lower than for sintered silicon carbides.

Note that tribological wear rates of nitride bonded silicon depend on its grain size distribution, so use of this material should be done so with caution in applications where impact or friction wear could take place.

Nitride-bonded silicon carbide refractory material is highly durable. Its resistance to thermal shock, chemical attack and abrasion make it an invaluable refractory material in multiple industries and applications.

Nitride-bonded silicon is an excellent refractory material for process furnaces and kilns, such as aluminium melting pots, blast furnaces, waste incinerator plants and waste incineration facilities. Refractory bricks made with this material are used to line sidewalls of aluminium melting pots as well as lower stacks. Furthermore, it plays a pivotal role in waste incinerator plants as an indispensable insulating layer.

Silcarb offers a selection of shapes, sizes, and profiles of nitride bonded silicon designed specifically to meet various industrial applications. Production ranges from 10% up to 38% silicon content with optional addition of aluminium oxides for molten metal applications. Perfectly suitable for many industries ranging from metallurgy to oil and gas extraction to electric power transmission to chemical processing to steel production with resistance against abrasion, impact, thermal shock corrosion corrosion up to 1600 degC; making kiln furniture an ideal option.

Excellent Wear Resistance

Nitride-bonded silicon carbide (NBSC) is an indispensable material used in advanced refractories and ceramics, serving a multitude of industrial applications in metal working, mineral processing, chemical production and more. Boasting superior thermal, mechanical and chemical properties NBSC provides an invaluable contribution in our ongoing search for durable materials that can withstand even the harshest environmental conditions imposed by humans and nature.

Nitride-bonded silicon carbide cast refractories can be created into intricate forms. Used for casting refractories in harsh environments such as minerals plants and coal mines, its primary use is often for its superior abrasion resistance; such as in the lining of cyclones. Also common as an abrasion resistant lining for pump components and in slurry pipe lines. Nitride bonded silicon carbide refractories last much longer than alloy-based materials in these harsh environments than alloyed counterparts or any other types of refractories made of material used by casting techniques alone.

High hardness provides superior wear resistance in this material, combined with its low coefficients of thermal expansion (the amount that material expands when temperature changes) makes nitride bonded silicon carbide extremely resilient against abrasion, impact and vibration damage.

Sintered nitride bonded silicon carbide outshone both boron steel and F-61 padding weld in all soil types tested, with light soil showing its best performance. This likely stemmed from its much harder material which increased with grain size to increase resistance against abrasion.

Reaction bonded silicon carbide is an integral component of wear-resistant refractories and other applications where high wear resistance is essential. Its flexible formability makes it an excellent candidate for intricate shapes. Furthermore, its thermal shock resistance extends equipment lifespan while decreasing maintenance costs significantly.

Nitride-bonded silicon carbide offers advantages over cast iron when replacing metal parts, with near net shapes being produced more easily and one third lighter weight overall. Furthermore, this material features superior dimensional control as well as increased thermal shock resistance as well as excellent oxidation and corrosion resistance compared to its metal counterpart.