Review of Net Shape Fabrication of Thermally Conducting Ceramics

Abstract

Unique combination of thermal and mechanical properties exhibited by silicon carbide (SiC) and aluminum nitride (AlN) earned their applications in electronics, automotives, defense, and aerospace industries. Successful conversion of their properties into final applications lies in the fabrication of these ceramics into fully dense microstructures. Efforts were taken by the researchers until date in the development of near-net-shape fabrication processes that can produce complex-shaped ceramic components with a minimum of machining and no microstructural defects. The current article reviews the recent near net-shaping techniques (plasma assisted compaction, injection molding, pyrolysis of pre-ceramic polymers) employed on SiC and AlN ceramics. In addition, all prior reports on the densification of SiC and AlN were reviewed to understand the effect of materials and process parameters over the microstructures and thus the properties.

Keywords:

• AIN
• Densification
• Microstructure
• Net-shaping
• SiC

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author thanks Dr. T. S. Sudarshan (Materials Modification Inc., VA) for the financial support. The authors also thank S. Ramamoorthi (Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute, Corvallis, OR), P. Rogers (Willamette Valley Company, Eugene, OR), N. Parkar (University of Illinois, Chicago, IL), and N. Singh (University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA) for their feedback during technical discussions.