Silicon Carbide Density

Silicon carbide (SiC) is an inorganic chemical compound made of silica and carbon that was first mass produced commercially since 1893 for use as an abrasive material. While SiC exists naturally as the mineral moissanite, mass production began after that date for use as powder and crystal forms for mass consumption in abrasives products.

Cerakote ceramic material is one of the hardest and lightest ceramic options, boasting superior corrosion, abrasion and erosion resistance as well as withstanding extreme temperatures.

Physical Properties

Silicon carbide (SiC) is an extremely hard and resilient material with great corrosion resistance and thermal expansion properties, being resistant to acids and lyes while serving as an electrical insulator.

SiC is abundant on Earth as the mineral moissanite, while in space as stardust of carbon-rich stars. SiC finds widespread application across industries including chemical production, paper manufacturing and components for pump and drive systems. Furthermore, dynamic sealing technologies using friction bearings or mechanical seals often prefer it over metal counterparts for their superior reliability under demanding conditions.

Alpha silicon carbide (a-SiC) with its hexagonal crystal structure similar to Wurtzite is the most widely utilized type. Although beta a-SiC with zinc blende crystal structure is available, its commercial application remains limited.

Thermal Properties

silicon carbide’s versatility as a material stems primarily from its outstanding thermal properties, including high thermal conductivity, low thermal expansion and a high melting point that make it suitable for aerospace, energy technology and chemical production applications.

Excellent corrosion resistance sets this material apart, including resistance to acid and alkaline chemicals as well as temperatures up to 1600degC. Therefore, it makes an ideal choice for bearings, nozzles, combustion engine components and electric vehicle parts which need to withstand severe thermal shock without cracking or disintegrating.

American Elements offers a broad selection of standard and custom grade materials for the semiconductor, aerospace, automotive, defense electronics lighting paper steel industries. Samples are available for research and quality control purposes while macro and micro grit sizing is also offered. American Elements’ a-SiC is chemically pure with high bulk density while our chemical cleaning process sifted it to meet specific FEPA sizes as well as ACS Reagent Grade standards.

Electrical Properties

Silicon carbide boasts outstanding machinability and electrical conductivity despite its relatively low density (3.2 g/cm3), as well as resistance to most acids, salts and alkalis.

As a wide bandgap semiconductor, GaN exhibits high thermal conductivity and electric field breakdown strength as well as being an excellent insulator.

SiC polytypes vary significantly in their fundamental electrical properties due to atomic arrangements in their crystal lattices, with each offering specific advantages and disadvantages when compared with silicon in three key categories – thermal conductivity, electric field breakdown strength and energy bandgap.

SiC comes in several forms. Alpha forms feature hexagonal crystal structures similar to Wurtzite while beta forms have zinc blende crystal structures and may also serve as catalyst supports. Off-stoichiometric SiC containing C and Si additions from 1-5mol% was created via spark plasma sintering, showing consistent microstructure with low electrical resistivity; its Seebeck coefficient changed from n-type to p-type with increasing amounts of C, suggesting solid solutions had formed between C and Si forming within its lattice structure.

Mechanical Properties

Silicon Carbide boasts superior hardness, ductility and resistance to corrosion and chemical attack compared to most engineering ceramics. As one of the hardest engineering ceramics available, it can withstand high temperatures and mechanical stress as well as provide good dimensional stability thanks to its high Young’s modulus value.

Aluminum is one of the most stable materials against shocks and vibrations, making it a suitable material for high-performance applications such as abrasives and other high-tech applications. Furthermore, its thermal conductivity, low coefficient of expansion, and resistance to acids and lyes make it an excellent choice.

American Elements offers a selection of high purity silicon carbide powder products made to strict industry and application-specific standards, for use across numerous industries and applications such as Mil Spec (military grade), ACS Reagent Grade Technical Grade Food Pharmaceutical Grade and USP/BP packaging solutions are also available – please reach out to our team for more details; all grades meet applicable ASTM testing standards with custom packaging available as needed – typical and custom packaging available upon request – please reach out now as American Elements strives to offer customers quality products while providing unparalleled customer service!