Abstract

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Modeling of a counterflow plasma reactor is presented

Ultrafine /3-silicon carbide powders are synthesized in a thermal plasma jet, generated with a swirl-stabilized plasma torch, using methane and silicon monoxide as reactants. High temperatures (>10000 K) combined with ultrarapid quench rates (>106 K/s) lead to a high degree of supersaturation, resulting in homogeneous nucleation of ultrafine SiC particles. The maximum conversion of SiO to SiC determined by thermogravimetric analyses is 97.3%. Particle size analyses show a bimodal distribution with the majority of the particles falling in a size range from 2 to 40 nm. Larger particles with sizes greater than 80 nm are also observed. Triangular and hexagonal SiC single-crystal platelets are observed throughout this work, and the formation of these particles is discussed in this paper.

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