Synthesis and Properties of Al₄SiC₄ by Carbothermal Reduction

Al4SiC4 is probably used as non-oxide raw material for high-temperature ceramics. Al4SiC4 was synthesized by using starting materials of metal-carbon, metal-oxide- carbon or carbides. In this paper, Al4SiC4 has been synthesized by using oxides (Al2O3 and SiO2) and carbon as starting materials through carbothermal reduction process. The oxidation properties in air and O2 atmosphere by TG method and the stability of the synthesized Al4SiC4 heated in moisture were investigated. Pure Al4SiC4 phase was synthesized when heating the mixture powder of Al2O3, SiO2 and C (C : Al2O3 : SiO2 = 8 : 2 : 0.8, in molar ratio) at 1700C for 8h in flowing Ar atmosphere. The synthesized Al4SiC4 powder consists of platelet shape grains with size of 68μm length, 35μm width and 1μm thickness. Al4SiC4 obviously oxidized from 800C when heated in flowing air or O2 atmosphere. When keeping Al4SiC4 powder in moisture, it was not observed to be reacted with water by XRD and SEM analysis.