One step co-sintering of silicon carbide ceramic membrane with the aid of boron carbide

Abstract To reduce the sintering cycles and shorten the preparation periods of silicon carbide membrane, we report a fabrication route for silicon carbide membrane by co-sintering process with the aid of boron carbide. In this process, the SiC selective layer was coated on the SiC- B4C green substrate with spray method followed by sintering at 1900 ℃. With the increase of B4C content from 7 to 13 wt.%, the grain size and pore size of the substrate decreased, ascribing to the interface reaction between boron carbide and silica film on the silicon carbide surface. A straight and homogeneous selective layer formed on the substrate, presenting average thickness of 30 μm and average pore size of 0.28 μm. Thus, this technique is considered as a cost-effective and short-period method for the preparation of silicon carbide membrane.