Effect of Cryolite on the Growth of SiC Whiskers

Recently, SiC and Si3N4 whiskers have been synthesized using natural sources. However the yield is usually low. In the present study, having an eye to the fact that cryolite was often used to advance the purity of silica, in order to estimate an available possibility to natural sources, the mixture powder of silica and cryolite were used as a starting material and the effect of cryolite on the growth of SiC whiskers was investigated. As a result, SiC whiskers and Na2Si2O5 were generated through the reaction of silica and cryolite under the existence of graphite in the stream of CH4 mixture gas. Thus, the available possibility was suggested since SiC formed as a whisker through the reaction.