Silicon carbide, also called carborundum, is an extremely hard compound of silicon and carbon that occurs naturally only in trace amounts but has been mass-produced since Edward Goodrich Acheson achieved wide-scale synthesis in 1891. Sintered into ceramics, it withstands heavy wear and high temperature, and its own semiconducting behavior has made it useful in high-power electronics as well as abrasives. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Primary UseAbrasives and cutting grit, and sintered into hard ceramics for disc brakes, clutches and ballistic plates. 1 Classification
Material Class Connections
Associated With
Silicon carbide is a technical ceramic
Both are wide-bandgap power semiconductors
Silicon carbide is a wide-bandgap semiconductor increasingly used alongside and in place of silicon in power electronics, where it tolerates higher voltages, temperatures and switching frequencies.
In Field
Sources
1. Silicon Carbide (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationHistory, Wide-scale production section
Wide-scale production is credited to Edward Goodrich Acheson in 1891.
Lead section
Grains of silicon carbide can be bonded together by sintering to form very hard ceramics that are widely used in applications requiring high endurance, such as disc brakes, clutches and ballistic plates.
Introduction
Silicon carbide (SiC), also known as carborundum, is a hard chemical compound of silicon and carbon.
material-class sentence
Sintered into ceramics, it withstands heavy wear and high temperature, and its own semiconducting behavior has made it useful in high-power electronics as well as abrasives.
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