Fabrication of Dense Nanostructured Silicon Carbide Ceramics through Two-Step Sintering

SiC powder compacts were prepared with Al2O3, Y2O3, and CaO powders. By two-step sintering, fully dense nanostructured SiC ceramics with a grain sizes of ∼40 nm were obtained. The grain size–density trajectories are compared with those of conventional sintering processes.