Ni‐Coated SiC Particles: Synthesis and Densification

The mechanofusion process, a dry particle coating route, has been successfully applied to coat micrometric SiC particles with submicrometric Ni filaments. In a first step, the mechanofusion parameters were optimized to form a continuous Ni coating onto SiC particles. In a second step, the Ni‐coated SiC particles were sintered by hot isostatic pressing. The temperature and pressure cycles were determined to ensure a good densification of the material. Such a densification process leads to the formation of a δ‐Ni 2 Si bilayer at the SiC/Ni interface; the inner δ‐Ni 2 Si layer in contact with SiC being more rich in carbon than the one in contact with the matrix. From X‐ray diffraction, wavelength‐dispersive X‐ray spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy characterizations, a mechanism is proposed to explain the microstructure of the end‐product.