A compound of silicon and carbon which occurs naturally in nature is termed to be extremely rare mineral moissanite is known as silicon carbide. Grains of silicon carbide can be bonded together thus by sintering to form a very hard ceramics which are widely used in applications which require very high endurance like those of car brakes, car clutches, bulletproof vests and ceramic plates. Silicon carbide is widely used in abrasive and cutting tools as silicon carbide is very much durable and also is low cost material. For manufacturing purpose it is used for its hardness in abrasive machining process which are grinding, honing, water jet cutting and very much for sand blasting. A strong composite of aluminum oxide and silicon carbide whiskers was discovered as in the first half commercial cutting tools were manufactured which were made using alumina and thus then silicon carbide whisker reinforced were introduced.Silicon carbide is very much used for electrical appliances like electronic circuit elements, electric systems and automobile parts. Also silicon carbide is highly used in jewelry, manufacturing of steel production, catalyst support and grapheme production. Silicon carbide is man-made material which is known for its sharpness and hardness. Silicon carbide is considered to be the real abrasive for grinding or sanding materials which are of low tensile strength like cast iron, brass, aluminum, bronze etc.
Silicon carbide is thus produced by the process of involving electrochemical reaction of silica which is in the form of quartz with carbon which is in the form of petroleum coke. Silicon carbide grains are used for manufacturing marble, granite polishing and is deoxidizer in iron and steel making. Silicon carbide is procured by heating silica sand and petroleum coke which are thus then packed around carbon electrodes as there are two types of silicon carbide which are black and green where black silicon carbide is used in refectories and green silicon are used mainly for manufacturing of abrasive materials or for heating elements.
