Silicon Carbide deposited by CVD is a wonderfully versatile material with a myriad of applications and excellent physical properties.
Its high hardness means it has abrasive and protective applications.
Its 100% dense structure combined with excellent chemical resistance gives it corrosion resistance applications.
Its high temperature strength combined with low density (3.2 g/cc) makes it an ideal space, rocketry and aerospace material.
These properties plus its low neutron activation cross-section makes it an ideal material for fission and fusion applications.
All those tiles on the underside, leading wing edges and nose cone of the Space Shuttle may have got bad press, but they are SiC and there’s no better material.
All silicon chips have passed across CVD SiC Coated furniture during their manufacture. The SiC is dense, pure and inert enough to keep the required incredibly high purity levels. For the most critical semiconductor applications, the furniture is made from solid CVD SiC. This is possible because SiC is one of those materials (like tungsten) that can be deposited several cm thick by CVD.
I could go on an on, but then I really would be rambling!
