Silicon Carbide is produced at elevated temperatures from quartz sand and petrol coke by carbothermal reduction in the Acheson process.  Norwegian producers are Saint-Gobain Ceramic Materials and Washington Mills.  The picture shows crystalline SiC from the production process before any further processing to powder. High demand is placed on product quality as particle size and shape. SINTEF has developed and patented an air classifier which plays a major role in the production of SiC powder qualities well suited for said applications.

SINTEF has competence and can offer projects, in cooperation with industrial partners, within:
• Process development and optimisation.
• Product development.
• Pilot scale production by new or modified processes and of new products.
• Modelling and simulation of industrial production/grinding circuits.
• Particle characterisation (particle size and shape, surface area, density and porosity).

SiC crude directly from the production process.  This is further processed to powder of different grain sizes by crushing, grinding, sieving and air classification.

Photo: Melinda Gaal

Research examples for Silicon Carbide
• Development of a new environmentally friendly process for production of Silicon Carbide.
• Optimisation of jet mill production with an on-line particle size analyser.
• Effect of grinding on the particle shape.
• Production of SiC powder below 1 µm.
• Wet grinding of SiC, or  grinding in an air swept ball mill. 
• Recycling of SiC and Silicon from slurry used for slicing silicon wafers for solar cells.