Synthesis of SiC nano-powder from organic precursors using RF inductively coupled thermal plasma

Abstract Silicon carbide (SiC) has recently drawn an enormous amount of industrial interest owing to useful mechanical properties such as its thermal resistance, abrasion resistance and thermal conductivity at high temperatures. RF inductively thermal plasma (PL-35 Induction Plasma, Tekna Co., Canada) has been utilized for synthesis of fine SiC nano-powder from organic precursors (tetraethylorthosilicate, hexamethyldisilazane and vinyltrimethoxy silane). It was found that powders exposed to thermal plasma consist of SiC with free carbon and amorphous silica (SiO 2 ), after a thermal treatment and a HF treatment, the impurities are driven off, resulting in fine SiC nano-powder. The synthesized SiC nano-powder lies between 30 and 100 nm, and the characteristics of its microstructure, phase composition and specific surface are determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and thermogravimetric (TG) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analyses.