What Is Silicon Carbide?

Silicon carbide is a wide bandgap semiconductor material. It occurs naturally as moissanite gems and as industrial products such as corundum.

Electroless nickel with silicon carbide provides excellent frictional properties and corrosion resistance in harsh chemical environments, as well as good oil retention due to its oleophilic nature.

Hardness

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a covalent carbon-silicon compound with second only to diamond in terms of hardness. As a refractory and abrasive material, SiC provides high heat resistance as well as good conductivity properties that make it highly heat resistant and durable despite extreme temperature fluctuations – making it the perfect coating material to withstand continuous wear or exposure to harsh chemicals.

SiC is an excellent material to protect automotive components against wear and corrosion, such as camshafts and pistons, when combined with nickel. It can also provide superior wear resistance and corrosion protection for oil pumps and other engine parts that require tough, non-porous surface treatments with elevated hardness – Argos offers Chenisil and Elnicarb, two nickel SiC composite coatings which offer uniform surface hardness with low coefficient of friction for camshafts and pistons respectively.

These composites are produced through the combination of medium phosphorus (5-9%) electroless nickel and 20-30% SiC particles in electroplating process. Microscopic particles of SiC are uniformly dispersed throughout nickel matrix during electroplating process, creating an all-round coating with superior anti-wear properties. Knoop hardness tests were carried out on both top and cross sections samples to ascertain hardness of each layer; results indicate that Ni-SiC 70-30 and 50-50 coatings increased average surface hardness by 61% and 121% relative to substrate; both had higher values than pure nickel deposits!

Corrosion Resistance

Silicon carbide boasts exceptional corrosion resistance in aqueous environments, making it an excellent choice for mechanical components exposed to constant friction or abrasion, chemical corrosion or high temperatures. Furthermore, high temperatures won’t deter this substance.

Chemical nickel-silicon carbide is an ideal material for many different applications, from oil and gas pipelines, automotive components, aerospace machinery and industrial equipment to complex geometries that require complex plating processes such as nickel plating. Microscopic particles of superhard silicon carbide co-deposit with the alloy during plating to form an extremely corrosion resistant and wear-resistent surface that offers unparalleled corrosion protection and tough wear resistance.

Nickel-silicon carbide boasts superior corrosion resistance to most commercially available materials, even those with higher carbon contents. This is due to the presence of silicon in the alloy which promotes element diffusion and increases carbide-forming metal atoms at grain boundaries for enhanced protection from corrosion.

Figure 7a illustrates a comparison of corrosion potential and current density for pure nickel, Ni/SDS-SiC and Ni/binary-SiC coatings; results can be seen in Table 2. Tafel plots illustrate that Ni/binary-SiC shows superior characteristics due to its smaller crystal structure and uniform morphology.

Wear Resistance

Silicon carbide is an extremely hard and corrosion-resistant material, making it the perfect material to be used as a protective coating on metal surfaces. This allows it to offer reliable protection from wear and tear caused by sliding movements while remaining strong at higher temperatures than most metals – something particularly crucial in aviation piston engines where oil evaporates during storage or after flying and leaves a film that causes corrosion.

Nickel Silicon Carbide (NiCom, Nikasil or Nikaplate) is an electroplated composite coating consisting of microscopic uniform-sized particles of SiC suspended within a matrix of electroless nickel (90%-93% nickel/7-10% phosphorus). These hard particulates offer superior sliding wear resistance under heavy loads while providing corrosion protection that’s easier to lubricate than chrome- or chromium-plated parts.

Ni-GO/SiC and Ni-GO/SiC/Ni-Mn alloy-coated 2218 aluminum substrates were subjected to dry sliding friction test to determine their tribological behavior, with Ni/SiC composite coatings showing superior wear resistance when compared with nickel-Mn plating solutions. Wear marks decreased initially but increased as concentration of SiC powder increased – an optimal concentration for optimal tribological performance was determined to be 40g/L.

Oil Absorption

Silicon carbide is known for being highly oleophilic, meaning that it attracts oil. Because of this property, silicon carbide has long been utilized as an oil absorbent material – especially mats, socks and booms used to quickly soak up hydrocarbon spills or liquid hydrocarbons. Furthermore, this material features high porosity to further its oil absorption capabilities.

Nickel silicon carbide coating’s hardness and uniform particle size make it particularly effective at plating cylinders in internal combustion engines, enabling piston rings to be honeed without damage to engine cylinder walls, which reduces corrosion risks in engines significantly while keeping the cylinders cooler, leading to enhanced performance and thus greater longevity of life.

Other than its use in engines, ceramic materials have many other applications. Ceramic is especially well-suited to semiconductor manufacturing where it has been employed to fabricate high-temperature and high-voltage transistors and diodes; additionally it is often employed to craft hard-faced tools like machining cutters or punches.

SiC material also finds use in creating mirrors for astronomical telescopes, due to its low thermal expansion coefficient, rigidity and hardness properties. Large mirrors such as those installed on Herschel Space Telescope use SiC mirrors; similarly it’s often chosen as aircraft wings require standing up against high temperatures and pressures.