Synthesis and characterisation of monophasic Si3N4 and biphasic Si3N4-SiC technology ceramic powders with carbothermic reduction method

In this study, it is aimed to synthesize silicon nitride powder by carbothermal reduction and nitriding method as well as silicon nitrile-silicon carbide ceramic-composite powder synthesis with some changes to be made in process. For the experimental work, silicon dioxide from 1-10 micron size recieved from Ege-Sil and carbon stock from CABOT (Vulcan XC 72) were used as starting material. These powders are mixed at certain stoichiometric ratios and milled at different times in the ball mill and ring mill. Subsequently, the powders were reacted at different atmospheres and various times using a tube furnace (Protherm PTF series). After sintering, heated in an air atmosphere furnace which (Protherm PLF series) was at 900 ° C for 2 hours in order to burn unreacted carbon into each powder mixture. For both starting material and the resulting product in powder form, the characterization was carried out by using powder size distribution analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD) to identify the phases formed, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS) to characterize the elemental composition of the powders, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to determine morphological structure, and FTIR analysis to reveal chemical changes.