Division of Precision Science & Technology and Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
Research Center for Ultra-precision Science and Technology, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2018 Feb 5;8(1):2376. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-20849-5.
In recent years, reaction-sintered silicon carbide (RS-SiC) has been of interest in many engineering fields because of its excellent properties, such as its light weight, high rigidity, high heat conductance and low coefficient of thermal expansion. However, RS-SiC is difficult to machine owing to its high hardness and chemical inertness and because it contains multiple components. To overcome the problem of the poor machinability of RS-SiC in conventional machining, the application of atmospheric-pressure plasma chemical vaporization machining (AP-PCVM) to RS-SiC was proposed. As a highly efficient and damage-free figuring technique, AP-PCVM has been widely applied for the figuring of single-component materials, such as Si, SiC, quartz crystal wafers, and so forth. However, it has not been applied to RS-SiC since it is composed of multiple components. In this study, we investigated the AP-PCVM etching characteristics for RS-SiC by optimizing the gas composition. It was found that the different etching rates of the different components led to a large surface roughness. A smooth surface was obtained by applying the optimum gas composition, for which the etching rate of the Si component was equal to that of the SiC component.
近年来，由于反应烧结碳化硅（RS-SiC）具有重量轻、刚性高、导热性好、热膨胀系数低等优异性能，因此在许多工程领域引起了人们的兴趣。然而，由于 RS-SiC 硬度高、化学惰性大且包含多种成分，因此难以加工。为了解决 RS-SiC 在传统加工中可加工性差的问题，提出了常压等离子体化学气相刻蚀加工（AP-PCVM）在 RS-SiC 中的应用。作为一种高效、无损伤的成型技术，AP-PCVM 已广泛应用于单一组分材料的成型，如 Si、SiC、石英晶片等。然而，由于 RS-SiC 由多种成分组成，因此尚未将其应用于 RS-SiC。在本研究中，通过优化气体成分，研究了 AP-PCVM 对 RS-SiC 的刻蚀特性。结果发现，不同成分的不同刻蚀速率导致表面粗糙度较大。通过采用最佳气体成分，获得了光滑的表面，其中 Si 成分的刻蚀速率与 SiC 成分的刻蚀速率相等。
