Nature 275, 434 - 435 (05 October 1978); doi:10.1038/275434a0

New materials in the Si−C−Al−O−N and related systems

I. B. CUTLER^*, P. D. MILLER^*, W. RAFANIELLO^*, H. K. PARK^†, D. P. THOMPSON^† & K. H. JACK^†

^*Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
^†Wolfson Research Group for High-Strength Materials, Crystallography Laboratory, The University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

THE concurrent discovery at the Universities of Utah and Newcastle-upon-Tyne of a continuous series of solid solutions, with the 2H wurtzite-type structure, between silicon carbide (SiC) and aluminium nitride (AlN) is reported here. This, together with observations of the additional solubility of aluminium oxycarbide (Al₂OC), suggests a large extension to the already wide field of sialons. It offers the prospect of many more materials in the Si−C−Al−O−N and related systems that are of scientific and technological interest not only as engineering ceramics but also for their physical, chemical, and electrical properties.

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