What Is Silicon carbide?
Researchers at IIT-Madras have tasted success in extracting silicon carbide from (simulated) moon soil.
- Silicon carbide is 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.
- It is the hardest ceramic material and has excellent thermal conductivity but low thermal expansion.
- It has excellent mechanical properties and excellent resistance to wear and oxidation.
- It is also classed as a semiconductor, having an electrical conductivity between that of metals and insulating materials.
- Its primary application is as an abrasive because of its high hardness, which is surpassed only by diamond, cubic boron nitride, and boron carbide.
- It is a promising ceramic material with excellent thermo mechanical characteristics.
- It is used in refractory linings and heating elements for industrial furnaces, in wear-resistant parts for pumps and rocket engines.
- It is also used in semiconducting substrates for light-emitting diodes.
