Research on optimal process parameters in thermally oxidation-assisted polishing of reaction-sintered silicon carbide

Reaction-sintered silicon carbide (RS-SiC) has been widely used in space telescope systems for its excellent physical and mechanical properties. Thermally oxidation-assisted polishing is a practical machining method to obtain RS-SiC parts with high precision, and the research focus is optimization of process parameters, because there are bumpy structures on the oxidized RS-SiC. By atomic force microscopy (AFM) detection, the distributions of oxides on the oxidized RS-SiC sample are quantitative analyzed when the thermal oxidation time is 5min, 30min, and 60min, and the calculated average differences of oxide heights between the initial Si grains and SiC grains are 10.7nm, 25.1nm, and 35.2nm, respectively. Meanwhile, the volume expansion coefficient in oxidation of Si/SiC to SiO2 is 2.257 and 2.194, respectively. Through theoretical derivation based on the Deal-Grove model, the numerical relationship between differences of oxide heights and thermal oxidation time is obtained. Combining with the material removal rate of oxide by ceria slurry in the abrasive polishing, the obtained surface quality can be precisely forecasted and controlled. The oxidized RS-SiC sample, when the oxidation time is 30min, is polished with different times to verify the theoretical analysis results. When the polishing times are 20min, 30min, and 40min, the obtained differences of oxide heights by the AFM detection are consistent with theoretical calculated results. Research on the optimal process parameters in thermally oxidation-assisted polishing of RS-SiC can improve the process level of RS-SiC sample and promote the application of SiC parts.