THERMAL CONDUCTION IN CR3C2 SIC COMPOSITE

Thermal conduction behaviour of Cr3C2/SiC composite is investigated in terms of temperature and SIC content. Experimental results showed tha t thermal diffusivity of the composite increases with SiC content up t o 20 vol %, corresponding to a conductivity maximum, then decreases wi th further increase of SiC. The reduction in diffusivity and conductiv ity at higher SiC content may due to formation of small amounts of sol id solution at the interface and/or of interfacial gaps due to lack of perfect contact among SiC aggregates leading to increased phonon scat tering. The thermal conductivity demonstrates a positive temperature d ependence but becomes temperature-independent when SIC content is abov e 30 vol %. A correlation with composite theory is present.