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Moscow, October 26, 2021/PRNewswire/ - Russian scientists have proposed a simple and cost-effective method to obtain industrial-grade silicon carbide from wood processing waste. The research was published in "Materials Chemistry and Physics".

Silicon carbide is a very hard synthetic crystalline compound of silicon and carbon. It appears as an extremely rare mineral moissanite in nature. Silicon carbide is almost as hard as diamond, wear-resistant, heat-resistant and radiation-resistant.

Metallurgy is one of the main consumers of silicon carbide. It is widely used in the manufacture of high temperature bricks and other refractory materials. In addition to hardness, silicon carbide crystals also have fracture properties, which makes them very useful in grinding wheels and sandpaper and cloth products. This compound is also used in the jewelry industry, construction, bulletproof vest production, and the automotive industry.

One advantage of biomorphic carbides is that they are produced from carbon derived from renewable wood. Different biological forms of carbides have been derived from various types of wood and grain crops: beech, oak, sapele, pine, linden, corn stalk, millet, etc. Recently, attempts have been made to synthesize biological silicon carbide from various industrial materials: fiberboard, paper, compressed wood powder composite board, cast bamboo cellulose, etc.

However, the current production technology of biological silicon carbide is not perfect. The properties of synthetic products are usually unpredictable. In addition, the traditional method of producing silicon carbide from charcoal is very time consuming.

Scientists from NUST MISIS and Tomsk University of Technology have proposed a method that uses an arc reactor with graphite electrodes to obtain high-quality carbonization from charcoal and silicon in the plasma of DC low-voltage arc discharge in ambient air. silicon.

The results show that three arc treatments at a current of 220 A within 25-30 seconds can completely convert the initial silicon into carbides. By annealing the material in an atmospheric furnace at 800 °C, the manufacturing phase of silicon carbide can be purified from the synthesized product. An important advantage of this method is that the synthesis process is simple and does not require a sealed chamber, inert gas or vacuum pump. Another important advantage is that the time required for synthesis is very short compared to traditional methods (from a few seconds to a few minutes). In addition, the initial source of carbon is usable materials, namely wood waste.

The powder obtained has the best lattice parameters and resembles charcoal in morphology. The disadvantage of the produced material is the presence of a surface oxide layer, which is characteristic of the proposed method and the silicon carbide-based materials obtained using other methods. However, this shortcoming can be remedied by treating the powder with an alkaline solution.

"Scientists do not always try to obtain useful and expensive compounds from cheap secondary raw materials. We have managed to synthesize a valuable and expensive product from cheap wood processing waste. This method can not only It synthesizes high-quality industrial-grade silicon carbide, but also provides a solution for wood processing waste management,” said Alexander Gromov, head of the NUST MISIS team and head of the MISIS catalytic laboratory.

Link: https://en.misis.ru/university/news/science/2021-10/7621/

SOURCE MISiS, National University of Science and Technology

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