Silicon Carbide:

Manufacturing Processes and

Material Properties

B. C. Bigelow, UM Physics
3/24/05

3/24/05 Bruce C. Bigelow -- UM Physics 1

 Silicon Carbide for SNAP
Motivations:

1. Silicon Carbide has extreme material properties

• Very high thermal conductivity
• Very low thermal expansion – close match to Si
• Very high specific stiffness (E/r)
2. Fabrication processes have matured
• Process-tunable material properties
• Complex geometries, assemblies
3. Substantial space heritage exists
• Space science applications
• Military applications
• Structures and reflecting optics

3/24/05 Bruce C. Bigelow -- UM Physics 2

 Silicon Carbide for SNAP
This talk:

1. Brief history
2. Manufacturing processes
3. Commercial sources
4. Material properties
5. Spacecraft heritage
6. Current applications
7. Conclusions

3/24/05 Bruce C. Bigelow -- UM Physics 3

 Silicon Carbide for SNAP

History:
• Accidentally discovered by Edward G. Acheson
(assistant to Thomas Edison) in 1890, while trying to
synthesize diamond.
• First synthesis method - “Acheson Process” – SiC
created intentionally by passing current through a
mixture of clay and carbon
• “Natural” SiC found only in meteorites, in very small
quantities

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 Silicon Carbide for SNAP

SiC Raw Material Production:

1. Acheson Process – for producing powders

2. Pyrolysis – for producing fibers
3. Reactions of silicon and carbon – for producing whiskers

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 SiC Production Processes

1. Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD); 99+% theoretical density, single phase

2. Chemical Vapor Composite (CVC); CVD with particulate injection (Trex)
3. Chemical Vapor Infiltration (CVI); graphite or carbon conversion /
infiltration; graphite “greenbody”, may be reinforced with carbon or other
fibers (C/SiC), multi-phase final material, porosity varies with process, also
called Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC)
4. Sintering; trace amounts of impurities and second phase result from
sintering additives, few percent porosity
5. Slip Casting; similar to sintering, with liquid mold-filling additives
6. Reaction Bonding; two phase mixture of SiC and Si, percentages and
porosity vary with process
7. Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP); near-theoretical density, may have second
phase or impurities from hot-pressing additives, can be very low porosity
(inert gas compaction)
8. Hot Pressing; mechanical pressure compaction with electric current heating

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 Selected Sources for SiC
1. BOOSTEC (Tarbes, France)
2. Cercom (Vista, CA)
3. Ceradyn (Costa Mesa, CA)
4. Coorstek (Golden, CO)
5. GE Power System Composites (Newark, DE)
6. IBCOL (Munich, Germany)
7. Kyocera Advanced Materials (Vancouver, WA)
8. Poco Graphite (Decatur, TX)
9. SSG Precision Optronics (Wilmington, MA) – no mat props.
10. Trex Enterprises (Lihue, HI)
11. Rohm & Haas (Woburn, MA)
12. Saint Gobain / Carborundum (Niagara Falls, NY)

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 SiC fabrication - IBCOL

3/24/05 Bruce C. Bigelow -- UM Physics 8

 SiC fabrication - Boostec

3/24/05 Bruce C. Bigelow -- UM Physics 9

R. Temp SiC Material Properties
Manuf. Process E, Fl. Str, Kic, Density, Poisson CTE, K,
GPa Mpa MPa*m0.5 kg/m^3 ratio ppm/C W/m*K
Boostec sintered 420 450 3.5 >3100 0.16 4.0 180
Ceradyne CVD 440 375 3.1 3200 0.17 4.5 200

HP 450 634 4.3 3200 0.17 4.8 115

sintered 430 400 4.3 3200 0.17 4.5 120
Cercom CVI 460 570 4.4 3200 0.16 4.5 130
Coorstek CVD 462 468 3.5 3210 0.21 4.6 115
RB 462 462 4-5 3100 0.20 4.4 125
sintered 410 480 4-5 3150 0.21 4.4 150
GE Cesic C/SiC 197 120 4.6 2650 2.1 125
IBCOL C/SiC 235 175 2650 2.6 135
Kyocera 430 539 5.6 3200 0.16 4.0 63
Poco CVI 218 147 2.3 2530 0.17 1.2 170
Rohm-Haas CVD 466 461 3.3 3210 0.21 2.2 300
St.Gobain sintered 410 240 4.6 3100 0.14 4.0 125
Trex CVD 466 380 3.4 3200 0.17 3.5 205-250

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 SiC Mat. Prop. Comparisons
Manuf. Process E, Fl. Str, Kic, Density, Poisson CTE, K,
GPa Mpa Mpa-m-0.5 kg/m^3 ratio ppm/C W/m*K
Ceradyne CVD 440 375 3.1 3200 0.17 4.5 200

Coorstek CVD 462 468 3.5 3210 0.21 4.6 115

Rohm-Haas CVD 466 461 3.3 3210 0.21 2.2 300
Trex CVD 466 380 3.4 3200 0.17 3.5 205-250
GE Cesic C/SiC 197 120 4.62 2650 2.1 125
IBCOL C/SiC 235 175 2650 2.6 135

AlN 330 290 2.6 3260 0.24 4.5 170

Alum 7075-T6 72 50 24 2790 0.33 23.4 160
TZM Arc cast 325 860 6-30 10160 0.32 4.9 120
Molybdenum Stress rel. 330 415 10220 0.32 5.35 138
304 St. Stl. 193 500 346 8030 0.29 16.2 16

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 SiC Space Heritage
Heritage missions:

1. NASA EO-1 ALI – SiC mirrors

2. ESA ROCSAT2 – SiC optical bench
3. ESA ROSETTA – SiC optical bench

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 SiC Space Heritage – EO1

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 SiC Space Heritage – Rosetta

Rosetta – SiC optics and optical bench

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 SiC Space Heritage - ESA

IBCOL EADS/ESA verification structure

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SiC Space Applications - Hershel

3.5m SiC primary mirror

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SiC Space Applications - Hershel

Hershel SiC secondary

mirror support structure

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 ESA - GAIA

GAIA optical layout – 2 fields simultaneously

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 ESA - GAIA

GAIA focal plane mosaic – 10 x 18 = 180 CCDs

4500 x 1966 px/CCD, 1.5 Gpx
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SiC Space Applications - GAIA

GAIA SiC primary mirror demonstrator - 1.4m x 0.5m

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SiC Space Applications - GAIA

GAIA SiC stability verification optical bench

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SiC Space Applications - GAIA

GAIA focal plane demonstrator model (Boostec):

770mm by 580mm by 36mm, with a mass of about 8kg.
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SiC Space Applications - GAIA

GAIA focal plane - sintered SiC – detector mounting detail

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 Silicon Carbide for SNAP
Conclusions:

1. There are many commercial sources for SiC

2. SiC material production and fabrication methods are well
developed
3. SiC and C/SiC demonstrate extremely high performance
material properties
4. Space heritage for SiC has been established
5. NASA and ESA are using of SiC in current programs
6. SiC is a real option for SNAP, both for optics and structures

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