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Aluminum-containing intergranular phases in hot-pressed silicon carbide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Xiao Feng Zhang  and
Lutgard C. De Jonghe
Xiao Feng Zhang*
Affiliation:
Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720
Lutgard C. De Jonghe
Affiliation:
Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720; and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: xfzhang@lbl.gov
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Abstract

Using transmission electron microscopy, we studied aluminum-containing intergranular phases and secondary-phase particles at triple-junctions in SiC (hot-pressed with aluminum, boron, and carbon additions). This study of statistical high-resolution electron microscopy of intergranular films indicated that a large fraction of the vitreous intergranular films (in the as-hot-pressed SiC) crystallized during post-annealing in argon above 1000 °C. However, brief heating to 1900 °C indeed re-melted 25% of the crystallized intergranular films. The structural transitions were reflected in the statistical width distributions of the amorphous grain-boundary layers. At triple-junctions, Al2O3, Al2OC-SiC solid solution, and mullite phases were newly identified. These phases, together with others reported before, are represented in a quaternary phase diagram for 1900 °C. It is proposed that a SiC-Al2OC liquid domain should be included in this phase diagram.

Keywords

CeramicGrain boundariesSecond phases
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 19 , Issue 8 , August 2004 , pp. 2510 - 2516
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2004

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