Crystal growth of vanadium silicides from high-temperature metal solutions and some properties of the crystals

Crystals of vanadium silicides were grown from high-temperature tin and copper solutions in an argon atmosphere using vanadium metal chips and silicon powder as starting materials. The crystals grown were V3Si, V5Si3 and VSi2. The growth conditions for obtaining single crystals of relatively large size were established. The as-grown V3Si, V5Si3 and VSi2 crystals were used for chemical analysis and measurements of unit cell dimensions. Densities, microhardness and electrical resistivity were determined on V5Si3 crystals, and oxidation at high temperature in air was studied for V5Si3 and VSi2 crystals. crohardness value on (110) planes of V5Si3 is 12.3 (±0.1) GPa. The electrical resistivity determined on V5Si3 crystal is 17.6 (± 0.7) μω cm. The oxidation of V5Si3 and VSi2 crystals begins to proceed at a measurable rate in the temperature range of about 355 and 515 °C, respectively. The final oxidation product is V2O5. In all cases, non-crystalline SiO2 seemed to be formed during the oxidation reaction.