Electric field effect on texture formation of mullite in spark plasma sintered SiC with Al2O3-SiO2 additive

Nanocrystalline SiC ceramics were sintered by spark plasma sintering, with alumina and quartz powders as additives. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analyses revealed that mullite phase with the preferred orientation of the c-axis perpendicular to the compressive axis was formed in SiC ceramics sintered at 1600 and 1700 °C, while mullite phase with the preferred orientation of the c-axis parallel to the current direction was formed in SiC ceramics sintered at 1800 and 1900 °C.