Low-temperature synthesis of biomorphic cellular SiC ceramics from wood by using a Na flux

Abstract

Wood from balsa and Japanese cypress was transformed into carbonaceous preforms by pyrolysis and subsequently converted into cellular SiC ceramics by heating with Na and Si at 973 K for 86.4 ks. X-ray diffraction showed the structure of the formed SiC to be cubic β-type. Cellular structures similar to those of the preforms were observed for the resulting porous SiC ceramics by scanning electron microscopy.