Electrical Conductivity of Sintered SiC Containing Ni

The effects of Ni addition on the microstructure and the electrical conductivity of silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics were investigated. The SiC ceramics containing more than 1.0wt% Ni were porous regardless of the sintering temperature, while the specimens containing less than 0.5wt% Ni and sintered at above 2050°C showed high densities (>98% of theoretical). The electrical conductivity at 300K of these dense SiC ceramics increased from 5×10-5 to 1×10-3S/m with Ni addition from 0wt% to 0.5wt%.