Highly pure Al4SiC4 powders were prepared by carbothermic reduction at 2173 K using Al2O3, SiO2, and graphite as raw materials. The obtained Al4SiC4 powders owned hexagonal plate-like grains with a diameter of about 200–300 μm and a thickness of about 2–6 μm. Based on the experimental results, the reaction of Al4SiC4 formation and grain evolution mechanisms were determined from thermodynamic and first-principles calculations. The results indicated that the synthesis of Al4SiC4 by the carbothermic reduction consisted of two parts, i.e., solid–solid reactions initially followed by complex gas–solid and gas–gas reactions. The grain growth mechanism of Al4SiC4 featured a two-dimensional nucleation and growth mechanism. The gas phases formed during the sintering process favored the preferential grain growth of (0010) and (1 ī0) planes resulting in formation of hexagonal plate-like Al4SiC4 grains.@en

In this paper, the fabrication and thermal conductivity (TC) of water-based nanofluids using boron (B)-doped SiC as dispersions are reported. Doping B into the β-SiC phase leads to the shrinkage of the SiC lattice due to the substitution of Si atoms (0.134 nm radius) by smaller B atoms (0.095 nm radius). The presence of B in the SiC phase also promotes crystallization and grain growth of obtained particles. The tailored crystal structure and morphology of B-doped SiC nanoparticles are beneficial for the TC improvement of the nanofluids by using them as dispersions. Using B-doped SiC nanoparticles as dispersions for nanofluids, a remarkable improvement in stability was achieved in SiC-B6 nanofluid at pH 11 by means of the Zeta potential measurement. By dispersing B-doped SiC nanoparticles in water-based fluids, the TC of the as-prepared nanofluids containing only 0.3 vol.% SiC-B6 nanoparticles is remarkably raised to 39.3% at 30 °C compared to the base fluids, and is further enhanced with the increased temperature. The main reasons for the improvement in TC of SiC-B6 nanofluids are more stable dispersion and intensive charge ions vibration around the surface of nanoparticles as well as the enhanced TC of the SiC-B dispersions.@en

A commercial solid oxide fuel cell with a Ni/YSZ anode was characterized under a pure methane atmosphere. The amount of deposited carbon increased with an increase in temperature but decreased when the temperature exceeded 700°C. The reactivity of carbon decreased with increasing deposition temperature. Filamentous carbon was deposited from 400 to 600°C, whereas flake carbon was deposited at 700 and 800°C. With increasing temperature, the intensity ratio of the D band over the sum of the G and D bands was constant at the beginning and then decreased with the transformation of the carbon morphology. The crystallite size increased from 2.9 to 13 nm with increasing temperature. The results also indicated that the structure of the deposited carbon was better ordered with increasing deposition temperature. In comparison with pure Ni powders, the interaction between the YSZ substrate and Ni particles could not only modify the carbon deposition kinetics but also reduce the temperature effect on the structure and reactivity variation of carbon.@en

Carbon deposition on nickel powders in methane involves three stages in different reaction temperature ranges. Temperature programing oxidation test and Raman spectrum results indicated the formation of complex and ordered carbon structures at high deposition temperatures. The values of I(D)/I(G) of the deposited carbon reached 1.86, 1.30, and 1.22 in the first, second, and third stages, respectively. The structure of carbon in the second stage was similar to that in the third stage. Carbon deposited in the first stage rarely contained homogeneous pyrolytic deposit layers. A kinetic model was developed to analyze the carbon deposition behavior in the first stage. The rate-determining step of the first stage is supposed to be interfacial reaction. Based on the investigation of carbon deposition kinetics on nickel powders from different resources, carbon deposition rate is suggested to have a linear relation with the square of specific surface area of nickel particles.@en