Influence of surface structure of SiC nano-sized powder analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy on basic powder characteristics

SiC nano-sized powder with high specific surface area is potentially of considerable interest to form fully dense SiC ceramics at lower sintering conditions (temperature/pressure). Surface structure of six kinds of commercially available SiC nano-sized powders produced by three different venders was analyzed in detail by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The overall XPS spectra of all nano-sized powders detected O-based bond (O1s peak), C-based bond (C1s peak) and Si-based bond (Si2s and Si2p peak). Surface structure of nano-sized powders included one of three impurity phases: (1) free carbon, (2) silica and (3) silicon oxycarbide. Furthermore, the influences of surface structure by XPS were systematically investigated on basic powder characteristics, such as chemical composition, morphology, particle density and primary particle size. It was revealed that the basic powder characteristics had a close relationship to the surface structure of nano-sized powder each impurity.