Electrical and thermal conductivity of liquid phase sintered SiC

Commercial silicon carbide ceramics are semi-conductors. To obtain SiC cera mics with insulating properties, a synthesised SiC powder which was doped w ith vanadium and boron to get insulating behaviour due to compensating mech anism, and in addition a commercial powder was used. Both powders were pres sureless sintered by liquid phase sintering. Different packing powders were used to influence the electrical behaviour of the dense SiC ceramics. The influence of these conditions on the electrical and thermal conductivity ar e described. Densification of SiC by a solution-precipitation mechanism in the temperature range around 1900 degreesC results in a decrease of resisti vity. The resistivity of the commercial powder could be improved by using a vanadium based packing powder. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.