Electrical and thermal response of silicon oxycarbide materials obtained by spark plasma sintering

In order to obtain dense silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) materials that maintain the properties of glass, non-conventional spark plasma sintering was used to sinter SiOC powders from 1300 to 1700 °C and with 40 MPa of pressure. The concurrence of electrical current, high pressure and low vacuum while the material is being heating produces a dense SiOC-derived material composed of a SiO2 glassy matrix reinforced with SiC nanowires grown in situ, graphene-like carbon and turbostratic graphite. SiOC materials with high electrical and thermal response are obtained as a result of this new processing technique. Electrical resistivity undergoes an extraordinary decrease of five orders of magnitude from 1300 (1.0 × 105 Ω m) to 1700 °C (0.78 Ω m), ranging from insulate to semiconductor material; and thermal conductivity increases by 30%, for these sintering temperatures.