Silicon Carbide Whiskers: Preparation and High Dielectric Permittivity

Silicon Carbide whiskers have been synthesized using silica sol and activated carbon as reagents via microwave heating without the presence of any of the catalysts, such as Fe, Ni, and Al etc.. The synthesized whiskers were separated and concentrated from the as-synthesized products using the gravity concentration process. The dielectric properties of the concentrated SiC whiskers were investigated in the frequency range 2-18GHz. The results indicate that the SiC whiskers exhibit higher dielectric permittivity and loss tangent than those of SiC powders, respectively, due to the high density of stacking faults formed in the SiC whiskers prepared by microwave heating.