Impedance spectroscopy of liquid-phase sintered silicon carbide

Liquid-Phase Sintered Silicon Carbide (LPSSiC) materials were produced with different Y2O3: Al2O3 and Y2O3: SiO2 sintering additive ratios. Densification was achieved by hot pressing (HP), The ratio of the polytypes and the amount and crystalline composition of the grain boundary phases was determined using Rietveld analysis. Microstructures of the materials were related to the mechanical properties (hardness, fracture toughness and strength), which are not presented. The impedance Spectroscopy measurements were made at temperatures between 100degreesC and 400degreesC and analyzed using Effective Media Theories and the Brick Layer Model. In some cases, in order to correctly fit the results, it was necessary to use or model the frequency dependence of the conductivity or dielectric constant of the SiC grains using various theoretical models. The impedance arcs for the SiC grains in the different samples varied widely, probably more due to the "semiconductor" doping of the grains or nonstoichiometry, than the SiC polytypes in the grains. The SiC grains all showed an Arrhenius behavior with energy gaps in the range 0.3 to 0.5eV.