EP4097048A1

EP4097048A1 - Method for separating impurities from silicon carbide, and temperature-treated and purified silicon carbide powder

Info

Publication number: EP4097048A1
Application number: EP21703638.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jörg ADLER; Heike Heymer; Matthias Hausmann; Wenzel KLIETZ; Jan Räthel; Josef GARBES
Original assignee: Esk Sic GmbH; Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung eV
Current assignee: Esk Sic GmbH; Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung eV
Priority date: 2020-01-31
Filing date: 2021-01-29
Publication date: 2022-12-07
Also published as: JP2023512094A; CN115087620B; US20230073241A1; JP7562683B2; WO2021152134A1; DE102020102512A1; BR112022015127A2; BR112022015127A8; CA3168890A1; CN115087620A

Abstract

The invention concerns the area of ceramics an relates to a method for separating impurities from silicon carbide, said method being applicable to SiC powders from grinding sludges, and to temperature-treated and purified silicon carbide powder. The aim of the invention is to provide a method with which different impurities are substantially completely removed using a simple and economical process. This is achieved by a method in which pulverulent SiC waste products that have a mass percent of SiC of at least 50% and an average grain size d₅₀ ranging from 0.5 to 1000 µm and have been subjected to a temperature treatment and cooled are mechanically treated and physically separated. The physically separated SiC powder is then divided into two fractions, one of which has a mass of impurities that is greater than the mass of impurities in the other fraction at least by a factor of 2.

Description

Process for separating impurities from silicon carbide and temperature-treated and purified silicon carbide powder

The invention relates to the field of technical ceramics and relates to a method for separating impurities from silicon carbide, which can be used, for example, on SiC powders from grinding sludge or on production-related waste of silicon carbide or on so-called SiC sintered scrap, and a temperature-treated and subsequently purified silicon carbide powder.

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a synthetic industrial mineral that is used in many branches of industry because of its outstanding properties (hardness, high-temperature properties, chemical resistance). Its use in the form of special, high-purity and tightly fractionated fine powder grains (0.5 to approx. 250 μm) in microelectronics / photovoltaics (wafer sawing), in ceramics production, for the production of ballistic protective ceramics for military technology, automotive / Environmental technology (diesel particle filter) and as an abrasive material for high-quality surface processing in the entire mechanical engineering sector.

SiC powder grains are made from special raw SiC through grinding, cleaning and fractionation. This results in high and constant amounts of low-quality, poorly usable SiC. An increase in the demand for the grain sizes therefore always requires an increase in raw SiC production. In this respect, an increase in raw capacity is not lucrative for the producers, which leads to structural scarcity and price inelasticity.

The raw SiC production via the electrosynthesis process, which has been used for around 120 years, the so-called Acheson process (DE 76629 A, DE 85197 A), is due to the electricity and oil price (raw material petroleum coke), as well as the environmental costs (due to high dust , CO / CO2 and S02 emissions). In spite of many attempts, alternative manufacturing processes have mostly been unsuccessful for economic reasons and will not be available in the foreseeable future either.

Although SiC is considered a globally available bulk raw material, the strategically important high-quality grain sizes (HQ) have been experiencing bottlenecks and price increases for years. In 2008, a deficit of 40-60,0001 HQ-SiC raw material was estimated in Europe (Silicon Carbide & More # 24, 2008, p. 3). An even bigger problem with the special grain sizes is that high-tech applications require large quantities of individual particle size bands. Due to the above-mentioned relationships of the price inelasticity, both lead to price surcharges and supply bottlenecks for these HQ special grain sizes.

SiC powders in abrasive applications are subject to wear in terms of cutting performance and particle size. A large part of the SiC is lost through dissipative processes. In many cases where SiC-containing waste products can be detected, the material separation is technically extremely difficult and the processing is not economically worthwhile.

Overall, there is a large amount of very differently contaminated SiC powders. The impurities are very different depending on their origin and consist of organic and inorganic non-metallic and inorganic metallic impurities. Organic contaminants include organic polymer residues (mostly hydrocarbon compounds) such as liquid oils, polyethylene glycol (PEG), solvents, lubricants, but also solid polymers such as plastic abrasion. Inorganic, non-metallic impurities mainly include free carbon and silicon oxides (predominantly S1O2) and Ca-Al-Si-O compounds.

The metallic impurities include iron and iron alloys, boron, vanadium, aluminum, titanium, copper, manganese, tungsten, chromium, nickel and their compounds.

Furthermore, so-called free silicon (Si-free) can be included, which is understood to mean metallic or alloyed silicon that is not bound in SiC or S1O2. SiC waste arises during the production of SiC, for example in the Acheson process, or as fragments of SiC molded parts, which cannot then be processed industrially without further processing steps.

The impurities are differentiated using known analysis methods, for example C-free, Sif-free, S1O2 and iron according to DIN EN ISO 9286, DIN EN ISO 21068 Part 1-3 and FEPA Standard 45-1: 2011. Spectroscopic methods are also used to analyze the impurities, including DIN EN 15991.

A large number of methods for separating the contaminants and thus for purification, that is to say increasing the concentration of the SiC content of contaminated SiC, are already known. These can be divided into physical and chemical processes.

In physical processes, different density, particle size and other physical properties, such as magnetic properties or wetting behavior, of some impurities are used.

For example, magnetic iron contamination is removed by magnetic separation. Impurities with different particle sizes and densities are separated using cyclone and hydrocyclone processes. Impurities with different densities and wetting behavior from flotation processes.

Chemical processes essentially take advantage of the solubility of various impurities in chemicals, such as solvents, acids or alkalis. Since SiC is very stable in such chemicals, very aggressive chemicals such as hydrofluoric acid can also be used to dissolve the impurities. Thermal processes can also be used to remove impurities, for example the oxidation of free carbon at temperatures of 400-800 ° C in air.

It is also known that NaCl is sometimes added during the SiC synthesis, as a result of which undesired impurities react with the chlorine at high temperatures to form volatile chlorides and are thus removed from the SiC. Post-treatment of contaminated powders with this method is not known, however, because it is very complex and the chlorine gas has an aggressive effect on the system technology and is environmentally unfriendly.

The disadvantage of the known methods is the high cost of removing the impurities from the SiC, since the specific impurities must each be removed using a specific method. In order to achieve a high concentration of the purest possible SiC, several processes must always be combined.

The object of the present invention is to provide a method for separating impurities from silicon carbide, with which various impurities are removed with a simple and economical method substantially completely or to such an extent that the purified silicon carbide powder can be reused industrially, and temperature-treated SiC powder, which can be easily cleaned with simple and inexpensive methods, and purified silicon carbide powder, which can be made available again industrially, in particular for high-tech applications.

The object is achieved by the invention specified in the claims. Advantageous refinements are the subject matter of the subclaims, the invention also including combinations of the individual claims in the sense of an and link, as long as they are not mutually exclusive.

In the method according to the invention for separating impurities from silicon carbide, powdery SiC waste products which contain at least 50% by mass SiC with a mean grain size dso, measured by laser diffraction, between 0.5 and 1000 gm and a minimum content of 0.1 mass% iron and 0.1 mass% metallic silicon, a temperature treatment under vacuum or non-oxidizing atmosphere at temperatures of 1400 - 2600 ° C and cooled, and then mechanically treated and physically separated, and then the physically separated SiC powder is divided into two fractions, of which the mass of impurities in one fraction by at least a factor of 2 higher than in the other faction.

The mass of impurities in one fraction is advantageously at least a factor of 10, advantageously at least a factor of 20, higher than in the other fraction.

The powdered SiC waste products also advantageously have at least 75% by mass SiC, advantageously 80% by mass SiC, further advantageously 85% by mass SiC, further advantageously 90% by mass SiC.

Powdered SiC waste products which have at least 50% by mass of SiC with an average grain size d 50, measured by laser diffraction, between 0.5 and 500 μm are also advantageously used.

Powdery SiC waste products are also advantageously used which have at least 50% by mass of SiC with an average grain size d 50, measured by laser diffraction, between> 500 and 1000 μm.

It is also advantageous if powdery SiC waste products which contain at least 50% by mass SiC with an average grain size dso, measured by laser diffraction, between> 500 and 1000 μm, are subjected to a temperature treatment at temperatures of 1,400 to <2,000 ° C .

It is also advantageous if powdery SiC waste products which have at least 50 mass% SiC with an average grain size d 50, measured by laser diffraction, between 0.5 and 1000 μm and which have a content of 0.5 to 5.0 Mass% iron and 0.5 to 5.0 mass% metallic silicon are used. It is also advantageous if the temperature treatment of the SiC waste products is carried out at temperatures of 1,400 - <2,000 ° C.

It is also advantageous if the temperature treatment of the SiC waste products is carried out at temperatures of 2,000 - 2,600 ° C.

It is also advantageous if the temperature treatment is carried out under vacuum or in a non-oxidizing atmosphere during the heating phase in the temperature range from 1200 ° C to <1400 ° C and from 1400 ° C to 1800 ° C with heating rates of less than or equal to 8 K / min.

It is also advantageous if the temperature treatment is carried out under vacuum or in a non-oxidizing atmosphere during the heating phase above 1800 ° C. with heating rates of less than or equal to 5 K / min.

It is also advantageous if the temperature treatment is carried out under vacuum or in a non-oxidizing atmosphere with holding times at the maximum temperature of 10 minutes to 300 minutes.

And it is also advantageous if the temperature treatment is carried out in a non-oxidizing atmosphere with an amount of non-oxidizing gases of 0.5 to 30 l / h.

The temperature treatment is advantageously carried out under vacuum or in a non-oxidizing atmosphere with removal of gaseous reaction products.

The powdery SiC is also advantageously cooled at a cooling rate of 0.1 to 100 K / min.

The powdery SiC is furthermore advantageously cooled in a temperature range between 1200 ° C. and 800 ° C. at a cooling rate of 0.5 to 10 K / min. The mechanical treatment of the recycled powdery SiC is also advantageously implemented by applying a mechanical impulse, advantageously by mixing, grinding, still advantageously by autogenous grinding, or by using eddy currents and / or ultrasound.

It is also advantageous if the mechanical treatment is carried out with an energy input between 0.1 and 5 MJ / kg.

It is also advantageous if the physical separation of the recycled powdery SiC is carried out according to the particle size, the particle shape, the density and / or the physical and / or chemical surface properties of the particles.

It is also advantageous if the separation is carried out according to the particle size and / or particle shape by sieving, sifting and / or cyclone processes.

And it is also advantageous if the separation is carried out by the action of inertial forces with regard to the particle density by means of flotation, sedimentation, sifting, centrifugation and / or cyclone processes or the separation according to the density of the particles is carried out by flotation and / or cyclone processes.

It is also advantageous if the separation into a fraction with at least 95% by mass, advantageously at least 98% by mass, still advantageously at least 99% by mass, silicon carbide is implemented.

It is also advantageous if essentially metallic impurities are separated off as impurities.

It is also advantageous if, to remove impurities in the form of Si and / or C during the temperature treatment, carbon, advantageously carbon black, graphite and / or coke powder, and / or silicon and / or silicon dioxide (S1O2) to achieve a composition that is as stoichiometric as possible of the SiC is added. The temperature-treated silicon carbide powder according to the invention contains SiC powder particles and essentially metallic impurities in the form of mixed metallic phases, and has metallic impurities on the planar and / or convex surfaces of the silicon carbide powder particles, which are arranged as islands or in the spaces or interstices between silicon carbide powder particles and are firmly bonded to one or more silicon carbide powder particles and in which the impurities have a wetting angle between 10 ° and 90 °.

Furthermore, the purified silicon carbide powder according to the invention has at least 98 mass% SiC and a maximum of 2 mass% essentially metallic impurities, the impurities being arranged essentially on the surface of the silicon carbide powder particles.

The purified silicon carbide powder advantageously has at least 99% by mass of SiC.

The purified SiC powder also advantageously has the impurities in the form of island-shaped melts of mixed metallic phases on the surface of the silicon carbide powder particles, which are firmly bonded to the surface of the particles after mechanical treatment of the silicon carbide powder particles.

Furthermore, metallic impurities are advantageously arranged on the surface in the case of primary particles of silicon carbide and on the surface and / or in the interstice of the particles in the case of secondary particles of silicon carbide.

And also advantageously, the impurities on the surface of the silicon carbide powder particles are arranged essentially on the convex-shaped parts of the surface of silicon carbide powder particles.

With the solution according to the invention, it is possible for the first time to remove various impurities from silicon carbide with a simple and economical To remove the method substantially completely or to such an extent that the purified silicon carbide powder can be used industrially again. It is also possible for the first time to specify temperature-treated SiC powder, which can be easily cleaned using simple and inexpensive methods, and to provide purified silicon carbide powder that can be used again industrially, in particular for high-tech applications.

This is achieved by a method for separating impurities from silicon carbide, in which powdered SiC waste products containing at least 50 mass% SiC with an average particle size dso, measured by laser diffraction, between 0.5 and 1000 pm and a minimum content of 0 , 1 wt .-% iron and 0.1 wt .-% metallic silicon, have been subjected to a temperature treatment under vacuum or non-oxidizing atmosphere at temperatures of 1400-2600 ° C and cooled, then mechanically treated and physically separated from where in one fraction (the "contaminated fraction") the mass of impurities is at least a factor of 2 higher than in the other fraction (the "clean fraction").

Thus, according to the invention, a “clean fraction” and a “contaminated fraction” are present.

In the context of the present invention, fraction is to be understood as meaning a division of SiC powders produced by physical separation according to their content of impurities.

The physical separation can be carried out according to various physical properties, such as particle size, density, mass, and concentration.

For example, after physical separation of the powdery SiC waste products according to particle size, powder groups in, for example, three, four or five different particle sizes can be obtained. Depending on the subdivision and composition of the impurities in the powder groups, these are then assigned to the two fractions, i.e. the clean and the contaminated fraction. It is easily possible for the person skilled in the art to use a few fractionation attempts and content analyzes to separate the respective powder groups with regard to the impurities in the two fractions according to the invention, so that a separation into a “clean” and a “contaminated” fraction with the parameters according to the invention is achieved.

The mass of impurities in one fraction, the “contaminated” fraction, is advantageously by a factor of 10, more advantageously by a factor of 20, higher than in the other, the “clean” fraction.

Advantageously, based on the total mass of the two fractions, the “clean” fraction has a mass fraction of> 60% by mass, advantageously> 70% by mass, still advantageously> 80% by mass.

Furthermore, in the context of the present invention, the mass of impurities in a fraction should be understood to mean the mass concentration of all constituents that are not SiC.

The concentration of SiC, which is determined by means of FEPA Standard 45-1: 2011, serves as a quality feature of an SiC powder. The rest one hundred percent is assumed to be the impurity content.

The doping elements built into the SiC lattice, such as, for example, Al and boron, are not regarded as impurities in the context of the present invention. These impurities are not detrimental or troublesome for most SiC applications.

According to the invention, the separation of the impurities results in an increase in the SiC concentration in the “clean” fraction compared to the starting SiC powder. An increase in the SiC concentration from 85% in the starting powder to 95% in the “clean” fraction or from a 96% concentration in the starting powder to a concentration of at least 99% SiC in the “clean” fraction is advantageously achieved. The mass of the impurities in the starting material is at least 3 to 100 times higher than the mass of the impurities in the “clean” fraction. With the method according to the invention for separating impurities from silicon carbide, powdery SiC waste products are used as starting materials, which contain at least 50 mass% SiC with an average particle size dso, measured by laser diffraction, between 0.5 and 1000 pm and a minimum content of 0. 1 mass% iron and 0.1 mass% metallic silicon.

It is advantageous here if the powdered SiC waste products contain at least 75% by mass SiC, better 80% by mass SiC, even better 85% mass SiC, or 90% mass SiC. In powdered SiC waste products, the proportion of SiC is usually not that high, but it is possible, before using the powdery SiC waste products in the process according to the invention, to carry out known preparation and homogenization processes in order to remove impurities that can be separated off with these processes. Thus, the mass of starting materials for the process according to the invention can be reduced overall and limited to the powdery SiC waste products, the impurities of which cannot thus be separated off.

Furthermore, it can be advantageous according to the invention that powdered SiC waste products containing at least 50 mass% SiC with an average particle size d 50, measured by laser diffraction, between 0.5 and 500 μm or between> 500 and 1000 μm are used .

According to the solution according to the invention, powdery SiC waste products containing at least 50 mass% SiC with an average particle size dso, measured by laser diffraction, between 0.5 and 1000 μm and a minimum content of 0.1 mass% iron and 0 , 1 wt .-% metallic silicon are used, which advantageously have a content of 0.5 to 5.0 wt .-% iron and 0.5 to 5.0 wt .-% metallic silicon. According to the invention, the SiC waste products must have an iron content of at least 0.1% by mass, which can be in the form of iron, iron alloys or iron compounds. The at least 0.1% by mass of metallic silicon present according to the invention can be in the form of free silicon. If the SiC waste materials that are to be used according to the invention do not originally have these contents of at least 0.1 mass% iron and 0.1 mass% metallic silicon, these contents must be achieved by adding iron, Iron alloys, iron compounds and / or metallic silicon can be realized.

Accordingly, it is advantageous if the SiC waste products are analyzed for their material composition before they are used in the method according to the invention, so that silicon, S1O2, iron, iron-containing compounds and / or carbon can be added during the subsequent temperature treatment in order to achieve the end product of the Temperature treatment to obtain as completely recycled, powdery SiC as possible. Carbon black and / or coke powder can advantageously be added as carbon. The S1O2 can also be present through oxidation of the SiC.

It is particularly advantageous if the amount of free carbon, S1O2, free silicon and iron is set before the thermal treatment so that the free carbon can react stoichiometrically with the S1O2 and the free silicon during the thermal treatment to form SiC, the amount of free silicon is set in excess for this reaction to such an extent that the free silicon and iron are contained in a mass ratio of 60:40 to 20:80. As a result, chemical compounds, in particular iron silicides, can form during the thermal treatment, which have a high linear thermal expansion coefficient of> 6 × 10 ⁶ 1 / K in the temperature range between 20 and 1400 ° C, which is of crucial importance for the subsequent purification.

It is also particularly advantageous if the free silicon and iron are contained in a mass ratio of 35:65 to 20:80. During the thermal treatment, the metastable iron silicide FesSh is predominantly formed, which, due to its very high coefficient of expansion, makes it very easy to clean during the subsequent processing.

Powdered SiC waste products as starting material for the production of recycled, powdery silicon carbide can be used as powder in loose bulk. Powders with a low degree of compression, as is the case in terms of production technology and / or due to the storage of the powder, can also be used as starting materials.

It is advantageous if the powdery SiC waste products are not used in loose bedding, but rather before use in the invention Process are exposed to light compression forces. It is particularly advantageous if compression forces between 0.002 and 100 MPa are applied to compress the powder.

The density of the bed is determined by weighing and determining the volume of the bed. The true density of the powder is determined, for example, by gas pycnometry; if the composition is known, it can also be calculated from the known true density of the components. In the case of silicon carbide, the true density is 3.21 g / cm ³

These powdery SiC waste products for the production of recycled, powdery silicon carbide are then subjected to a temperature treatment in a vacuum or non-oxidizing atmosphere at temperatures of 1400-2600 ° C.

The temperatures are advantageously between 2000 ° C and 2600 ° C.

In the thermal treatment of the powdery SiC waste products, low heating rates of less than or equal to 8 K / min, advantageously at temperatures above 1800 °, are advantageously achieved during heating in the temperature range between 1200 ° C. to <1400 ° C. and from 1400 ° C. to 1800 ° C. C Heating rates of less than / equal to 5 K / min applied.

In the context of the present invention, the heating rate should be understood to mean the temperature difference at the beginning and at the end of the temperature range divided by the total time of heating in this temperature range.

However, different heating rates and different holding times can also be set in the respective temperature range.

In the context of the present invention, holding time should be understood to mean a heating rate of 0 K / min during this time.

At the maximum temperatures of the process according to the invention, the holding times are advantageously between 10 minutes and 300 minutes, this also depending on the powder volume to be treated and the temperature.

Furthermore, the lower the maximum temperature, the longer the holding time at the respective maximum temperature. Temperatures in the range between 1400 and <2000 ° C. are advantageously also suitable for powdered SiC waste products that contain at least 50% by mass of SiC with an average particle size d 50, measured by laser diffraction, between> 500 and 1000 μm.

During the temperature treatment under a non-oxidizing atmosphere, a throughput of flowing, non-oxidizing gas with an average flow rate of 0.5 to 30 l / min is set during heating. It is particularly advantageous if a throughput of flowing, non-oxidizing gas with an average flow rate of 0.5 to 30 l / min in the temperature range between 1200 and 2000 ° C. is set during heating.

In the context of the present invention, the mean flow rate should be understood to mean the total amount of gas flowing through in the stated temperature range from the beginning to the end of the temperature range divided by the total time of heating in this temperature range.

Different flow rates of the flowing non-oxidizing gas can also be set in the respective temperature range. The flowing gas atmosphere can be set at positive or negative pressure, with a negative pressure between 70,000 and 90,000 Pa, for example, being preferred.

Depending on the device for the temperature treatment of the powdery SiC waste products according to the invention, the method can be carried out differently.

Typically, the temperature treatment is carried out in a closed furnace body, in which the powdery SiC waste products are introduced and present in refractory vessels (crucibles).

Either a vacuum is generated in such a closed furnace body or a non-oxidizing gas atmosphere is generated. In the case of a non-oxidizing gas atmosphere, the gas flowing through is advantageously guided through the furnace body in such a way that as complete a flow as possible around the vessels and the powder is achieved. This can be achieved, for example, in that the gas flows in on one side of the furnace body and flows out on the opposite side, with the vessels between the inlet and outlet are arranged. This gas flow or a vacuum is possible both in a so-called batch oven for discontinuous temperature treatment and in continuous ovens for continuous temperature treatment.

Technical protective gas atmospheres, such as argon or nitrogen atmospheres, which have a residual oxygen content of <100 ppm, are used as the non-oxidizing atmosphere. However, mixtures with CO can also be used, for example, since these do not lead to the oxidation of the SiC. The temperature treatment is possible under a slight overpressure as well as under negative pressure up to a vacuum. The temperature treatment is advantageously carried out under an argon atmosphere. The thermal treatment is possible both in batch ovens and in continuous operation.

The temperature treatment of the powdery SiC waste products under vacuum or non-oxidizing atmosphere can be carried out with the removal of gaseous

Reaction products are carried out.

In this case, carbon monoxide (CO) and silicon monoxide (SiO) are advantageously removed. Advantageously, gaseous ones are discharged

Reaction products during the heating phase and preferably in the temperature range between 1200 ° C and 2000 ° C, particularly preferably in the temperature range between 1350 ° C and 1800 ° C.

With the method according to the invention, a separation of impurities from recycled, powdery silicon carbide is achieved.

During the thermal treatment of the SiC waste products for the production of recycled, powdery silicon carbide, the essentially powdery structure of the products is retained. The silicon carbide powder particles are either in the form of isolated primary crystals and crystallites, that is to say without any connection to one another, or are slightly intergrown as secondary crystallites, that is to say as a connection of individual primary crystals or crystallites that are intergrown with one another.

Crystallites are understood as meaning individual particles which are homogeneous in terms of their crystal structure, and which do not have the crystal structure or only partially have it in their external form. After the thermal treatment, the recycled, powdery silicon carbide is cooled.

The cooling is advantageously carried out at a cooling rate of 0.1 to 100 K / min, particularly advantageously until a temperature of 200 ° C. is reached. Usually in industrial processes the furnace can be opened from this temperature of 200 ° C and the powder can be further cooled in air.

In the case of a temperature treatment between 2000 and 2600 ° C. final temperature, rapid cooling from the respective final temperature to 1800 ° C. at a cooling rate of 10 to 50 K / min is particularly advantageous. The cooling is also advantageously carried out in a temperature range between 1200 ° C. and 800 ° C. at a cooling rate of 5 to 25 K / min. Such cooling rates can be achieved technically through the use of rapid cooling devices, for example by introducing cold, non-oxidizing gas into the furnace, circulating it and passing it through a heat exchanger.

The subsequent mechanical treatment according to the invention is advantageously carried out by applying a mechanical impulse, advantageously by mixing or grinding or by using eddy currents and / or ultrasound.

The grinding can in turn advantageously be carried out by means of autogenous grinding under negative pressure (interparticle movements).

The mechanical treatment is also advantageously carried out with an energy input between 0.1 and 5 MJ / kg.

The mechanically treated SiC powder is then physically separated.

The recycled powdery SiC can be separated according to the particle size, the particle shape, the density and / or the physical and / or chemical surface properties and / or solid-state properties of the particles.

A separation according to the particle size and / or particle shape can advantageously be carried out by sieving, sifting and / or cyclone processes. A separation by the action of mass forces with regard to the particle density by means of flotation, sedimentation, sifting, centrifugation and / or cyclone processes or the separation according to the density of the particles by flotation and / or cyclone processes can be carried out.

Surface properties can be used in separation processes that separate with electrical field strengths or the like. Solid body properties can be used in separation processes that use electrical material properties, e.g. magnetizability.

After the physical separation, the SiC powders obtained are divided into two fractions, the division being based on the mass of impurities and, according to the invention, the mass of impurities in one fraction is at least a factor of 2 higher than in the other fraction.

The inventive division into two fractions has surprisingly shown that one fraction has SiC powder with impurities of less than 5% by mass, advantageously less than 2% by mass, still advantageously less than 1% by mass, and the other fraction contains essentially all of the remaining impurities.

The division into at least one “clean” fraction and at least one “contaminated” fraction with a higher impurity content is carried out using one or more classic separation processes, advantageously a dry classification process such as sieving, sifting or magnetic separation. Depending on the number of separating cuts in the process, several purified, clean and contaminated fractions can also be generated, but these are combined again to form the two fractions according to the invention at the end of the division / fractionation.

The purification factor can be determined in each fraction by splitting / fractionating into several fractions before the combination and the difference according to the invention between the purification factors of the two fractions can be set at the end of the method according to the invention by combining the fractions. With the method according to the invention, at least 95% by mass, advantageously at least 98% by mass, still advantageously 99% by mass, silicon carbide is achieved in at least one fraction.

Surprisingly, it was found that the metallic impurities can melt during the temperature treatment and thus at least partially wet the SiC particles, so that the metallic impurities form a solid bond between the adjacent SiC particles and in the interstices between several SiC particles after cooling can enter into with the SiC particles. The metallic impurities are present, for example, as metal silicides or ternary metal-Si-C compounds or alloys or as mixtures thereof, so-called mixed metallic phases.

Surprisingly, the mechanical treatment causes the metallic impurities to flake off or break off, as a result of which these impurities can be separated from the SiC and, if necessary, further comminuted in the further mechanical treatment.

As a result, an accumulation of these metallic impurities is achieved in a fraction of the mechanically treated recycled, powdered silicon carbide.

If the SiC waste products do not contain any carbon as the starting material for the production of purified silicon carbide powder, it is advantageous to add carbon particles, for example in the form of soot, graphite or coke powder.

Such an addition can advantageously be 0.3 to 0.5 times the weight fraction of carbon, based on the free Si content and / or the Si content of the S1O2.

The method according to the invention is intended to produce purified SiC powders which can be used again industrially, in particular for high-tech applications, and which can be produced with a high yield using a simple and economical process. The SiC powder cleaned with the method according to the invention can then be fed to a chemical cleaning.

The recycled, powdery silicon carbide is separated according to the invention into two fractions, the recycled silicon carbide powder in the one fraction at most 5 mass% impurities, advantageously at most 2 mass%, still advantageously less than 1 mass% and the remaining impurities are contained in the other fraction.

The advantage of the method according to the invention is that the mechanical treatment and the fractionation of the powders can be implemented with known customary methods which are known and are used in any case for processing SiC powders, for example for use as abrasives.

The purified silicon carbide powder according to the invention with at least 98% by mass SiC, advantageously 99% by mass SiC, and at most 2% by mass impurities has residues of the metallic impurities still adhering to the surface of the silicon carbide powder particles.

Surprisingly, only a maximum of 2% by mass of impurities remain on the surface of the SiC powder particles after the method according to the invention.

After the temperature treatment according to the invention, SiC particles are formed which surprisingly have unique structures for material separation during the mechanical treatment according to the invention. These structures are characterized in that the metallic impurities can be present in the form of mixed metallic phases, which are concentrated and deposited on the surfaces of the silicon carbide powder particles and are usually so firmly bonded to the surface of the SiC powder particles that the SiC powder particles are mechanically separated of the majority of the impurities and in particular the metallic impurities in two or more fractions can be easily realized. Such an accumulation of the impurities on the surface of the SiC powder articles has not yet been observed. It is also surprising that these structures of the impurities deposited on the surface of the SiC powder particles can be achieved by a comparatively simple mechanical separation and / or physical treatment can be removed to a very high degree, so that highly to extremely pure SiC powder with at least 98% by mass of SiC can be produced in one fraction.

The impurities are essentially in the form of island-shaped, mostly drop-like melts of the mixed metallic phases on the surface of the silicon carbide powder particles. After the mechanical treatment and physical separation according to the invention, the remaining impurities are firmly bonded to the surface of the SiC powder particles.

According to the invention, these impurities are advantageously arranged on the surface of the individual silicon carbide powder particles after the temperature treatment, essentially on the planar and / or convex parts of the surface of silicon carbide powder particles. The wetting angle of these impurities on the surface of the silicon carbide powder particles varies significantly, but is typically between 10 ° and 90 °.

Furthermore, the impurities can also be arranged as metallic mixed phases between SiC powder particles, which on the one hand are firmly connected to the planar and / or convex shape of the surface of the individual SiC powder particles, and on the other hand are also connected to one another as a metallic mixed phase and thus spaces between fill the SiC powder particles or gussets between SiC powder particles. At these points and / or grain boundaries, the metallic mixed phases form shapes that are visually reminiscent of weld seams in fillet weld shapes (flat weld, flea weld, arched weld).

The metallic mixed phases formed as impurities during the temperature treatment of the process according to the invention are distinguished by the fact that they are above all silicides or carbides of the metals present. The process is primarily aimed at producing the iron silicides FeßSi (a2-phase), FeSi (e-phase), FeS (z 2-phase or FesSiz) and in particular the metastable FesSh (h-phase). These silicides typically have a coefficient of linear thermal expansion of> 6 × 10 ⁶ 1 / K in the range of 20-1400 ° C. This forms the basis for the separation process according to the invention, since they can be separated relatively easily from the surfaces of the silicon carbide powder particles.

In addition to the above-mentioned silicides, ternary Fe-Si-C compounds can also occur to a lesser extent. Other metallic impurities such as Ti, V, Al can also be dissolved in the silicides and carbides or form mixed crystals.

Surprisingly, as a result of the mechanical treatment of the temperature-treated SiC waste products, the impurities both on the surfaces of the SiC powder particles and between the SiC powder particles flake off relatively cleanly from the SiC powder particles, so that essentially only the drop-like melts of the mixed metallic phases deposited in the form of islands remain as impurities on the planar and / or convex surface of the silicon carbide powder particles. If the melts deposited in the form of islands flake off in whole or in part, firmly adhering fragments of these melts remain on the planar and / or convex surfaces of the silicon carbide powder particles. The fracture points of the firmly adhering fragments show a typical mussel-like fracture (conchoidal fracture).

The SiC powders thermally treated according to the invention contain SiC powder particles and essentially metallic impurities, these SiC powders having a significantly higher proportion of intergrown secondary crystallites connected by the metallic impurities before the mechanical treatment according to the invention than after the mechanical treatment. During the mechanical treatment, these intergrown secondary crystallites are separated into primary crystallites and a large part of the adhering metallic contamination is blown off.

The impurities deposited in the form of islands on the surface of the silicon carbide powder particles, which are firmly bonded to the SiC powder particles, have a wetting angle of these metallic mixed phases on the planar and / or convex SiC powder particle surfaces between 10 and 90 ° according to the method according to the invention.

The wetting angle of the metallic mixed phases on the SiC particle surfaces means, in the context of the invention, the angle which is located at the The phase boundary between the solid surface of a SiC particle, the molten metallic mixed phase and the surrounding gas atmosphere is established during the temperature treatment as a result of the interfacial tension (Young's equation) and is maintained even after the melt has solidified. Even if the metallic mixed phases are arranged as seams between SiC particles and in the form of interstices, the wetting angle is at the phase boundary between the SiC particle surface, the metallic mixed phase and the surrounding atmosphere.

The wetting angle is preferably measured on the basis of microscopic recordings, particularly preferably by means of image evaluation of scanning electron microscopic recordings of ceramographically / metallographically prepared bevels of the thermally treated powder particles, which produce a cross section through the phase boundary.

The wetting angle of remaining, firmly adhering impurities in the form of mixed metallic phases and their fragments on the SiC particle surfaces can also be measured on the cleaned SiC powders mechanically treated according to the invention.

On the basis of the fracture pattern, it is easy to distinguish between the surfaces of the metallic mixed phases and mixed phase fragments on the cleaned SiC powders broken during the mechanical treatment and the surfaces of the metallic mixed phases on the temperature-treated SiC powders caused by melting during the thermal treatment .

In the case of the mechanically treated, cleaned SiC powders, only the wetting angles at the phase boundary between the melted mixed phase, the surface of the SiC particles and the surrounding atmosphere are used to determine the wetting angle, but not the angles between those caused by the mechanical treatment generated fracture surfaces of the metallic mixed phase fragments and the SiC particles and the surrounding surface. Purified silicon carbide powders of this type thus differ from known recycled SiC powders, in which the impurities are predominantly present separately from the SiC particles.

The purified silicon carbide powder according to the invention can therefore be distinguished from known recycled powders by light and electron microscopic methods, such as SEM, TEM or SEM-EDX.

Likewise, after the mechanical processing according to the invention, in particular the comminution, of the SiC particles after the temperature treatment, characteristic fractures and fracture surfaces have formed on the SiC powder particles treated according to the invention, which can easily be determined with the aforementioned investigation methods. These typical fracture points and surfaces of the impurities that arise according to the invention are a characteristic feature of the purified silicon carbide powder according to the invention.

The silicon carbide powder particles that are present according to the method according to the invention are mostly broken at the grain boundaries of the individual SiC particles and thus also ensure that the particles are separated.

A particular advantage of the solution according to the invention is that the removal of the melted impurities and a clear fractionation can be achieved all the better, the greater the amount of impurities in the SiC waste products.

The invention is explained in more detail below using several exemplary embodiments.

example 1

10 kg of an SiC powder as a secondary accumulation from the SiC primary comminution, containing 91.8% by weight SiC, 1.3% by weight Ctrei, 1.8% by weight Si, 3.7% by weight SiO ₂ , 0.4 mass% Fe and impurities with Al, V, Ti and Ca in the range of> 300 ppm each, is mixed with 180 g of coke powder, 100 g of Si and 40 g of Fe. The powder mixture has a means Laser diffraction determined mean grain size of 9.5 gm. The bulk density of the powder mixture is 0.6 g / cm ³ . The powder mixture is filled into graphite crucibles and compressed with a ram at 50 MPa. The crucibles are heated in a protective gas furnace under an argon atmosphere at 8 K / min up to 2500 ° C and held there at 2500 ° C for 60 min, heating between 1200 ° C and 2000 ° C at a reduced heating rate of 3 K / min . An Ar gas flow at 20 l / h is passed around the graphite crucible during the entire temperature treatment. In addition, carbon monoxide (CO) and silicon monoxide (SiO) produced by the protective gas furnace are removed.

The cooling is carried out at a rate of a total of 2.5 K / min. After cooling, the powdery crucible content is treated in an air mill with 0.1 MJ / kg and, after a sifting step, splits into three powders with particle sizes of <10, 10 - 60 μm,> 60 μm.

Before the mechanical treatment, the SiC powder has an SiC content of 97.8% by mass, in particular the metallic impurities are in the same order of concentration as the starting powder.

After the mechanical treatment in the air mill, the powder with the particle size> 60 μm has an SiC content of 99.1% by weight SiC. The Si and S1O2 content is 0.22% by mass, that of C-free is 0.12% by mass, the Fe content is 0.16% by mass, the other contents of metallic impurities were in each case all clearly <100 ppm.

In the two other powders that were combined, the amount of impurities was found to be 8.6 times.

The mean particle size after thermal treatment and mechanical cleaning in the “clean” fraction is 92.7 μm. This means that the particles are on average 9.75 times larger than in the starting material that was placed in the protective gas furnace.

As a result of the method according to the invention, the “clean” fraction has a mass fraction of 81 mass%. Before the mechanical treatment, the thermally treated powder had a large number of secondary particles in the interstices of which the impurities had accumulated. After mechanical treatment, the “clean” fraction almost exclusively contains primary particles. Island-shaped or fragmentary island-shaped metallic melts of predominantly Fe5Sh are present on these particles on the convex parts of the particle surfaces and at the points where, due to the mechanical forces introduced, the secondary particles have been converted back into primary particles. The remaining secondary particles show impurities in the interstices of the intergrown particle agglomerates.

The presence of these impurities, which are firmly bound to the SiC particles, has been verified by means of SEM.

In the contaminated fraction, in addition to the forms described here, the contaminants are also present in powder form.

Example 2

10 kg of a SiC powder as a secondary accumulation from SiC processing, containing 95.8% SiC, 0.2% C-free, 1.2% Si, 1.2% S1O2, 1.4% Fe and contamination with Al, V , Ti and Ca in the range of> 100 ppm, is mixed with 80 g of coke powder. The powder mixture has an average grain size of 41.5 μm, determined by means of laser diffraction. After a compression step, the powder mixture introduced into the crucible has a density of 1.3 g / cm ³ ° C and held at this temperature for 180 min. An Ar gas flow at 0.5 l / h is passed around the graphite crucible during the entire temperature treatment.

Furthermore, in the temperature range between 1200 ° C and 2000 ° C, carbon monoxide (CO) and silicon monoxide (SiO) that have arisen from the protective gas furnace are removed.

The cooling down to room temperature takes place at 2 K / min. In the range between 1200 ° C and 800 ° C, the cooling takes place at a rate of 8 K / min. After cooling and before the mechanical treatment, the SiC powder has an SiC content of 96.1% by mass. The metallic impurities are present in unchanged amounts.

The powdery contents of the crucible are treated in a mill with 0.3 MJ / kg and after sieving it splits into five powders with particle sizes of <40 pm, 40-63 pm, 63-125 pm, 125-250 pm,> 250 pm.

The powders with particle sizes of <40 and 40-63 pm are then mixed to form one fraction and the powders with particle sizes of 63-125 pm, 125-250 and> 250 pm are mixed to form the second fraction. The “clean” fraction is the fraction with the particle sizes 63-125 pm, 125-250 and> 250 pm, which has an SiC content of 98.8% SiC. The Si and S1O2 content is 0.2% in each case, that of C-free is 0.14%, the Fe content is 0.25%, the other contents of metallic impurities have all been significantly reduced to <50 ppm.

The "contaminated" fractions with particle sizes of <40 pm and 40-63 pm contain 13.8 times the amount of impurities compared to the "clean" fraction.

The mean grain size after thermal treatment and mechanical cleaning in the “clean” fraction is 100.4 μm. This means that the particles are on average 2.4 times larger than the starting material that was put into the protective gas furnace.

As a result of the method according to the invention, the “clean” fraction has a mass fraction of 82.5% by mass.

Before the mechanical treatment, the thermally treated powder had a large number of secondary particles in the interstices of which the impurities had accumulated. After mechanical treatment, the “clean” fraction almost exclusively contains primary particles. On these particles there are fragments of metallic melts made of FeßSi and FesSh on the planar and convex parts of the particle surfaces and at the points where, due to the mechanical forces introduced, the secondary particles have been converted back into primary particles. The remaining secondary particles show Impurities with the same silicides in the interstices of the intergrown particle agglomerates.

The presence of these contaminants, which are firmly bound to the SiC particles, has been verified by means of SEM-EDX.

In the “contaminated” fraction, in addition to the forms described here, the contaminants are also present in powder form.

Example 3

10 kg of a dusty SiC powder as a secondary accumulation from SiC processing, containing 98.5% by weight SiC, 0.3% by weight C-free, 0.6% by weight Si, 0.4% by weight S1O2, 0.1 mass% Fe and impurities with Al, V, Ti and Ca in the range of> 100 ppm. 20g Fe are added to this powder. The powder mixture has an average grain size of 16.4 μm determined by means of laser diffraction. The bulk powder is placed in a crucible and compacted ^{to a density of> 1.2 g / cm 3 using a vibrating plate.} The crucible is heated in an oven under a nitrogen atmosphere with a nitrogen flow rate of 101 / min and a negative pressure of 0.9 bar, at 5 K / min to 1800 ° C and from there at 3 K / min to 2400 ° C. It is held at 2400 ° C. for 100 minutes.

The cooling is carried out at a rate of 10 K / min.

After cooling, the powdery contents of the crucible are treated in a mill with 1 MJ / kg and are then converted into three powders with densities of

2.5 - 3.9 g / cm ³ , split.

Before the mechanical treatment, the SiC powder has an SiC content of

99.5% by mass, in particular the metallic impurities are in the same order of concentration as the starting powder.

After mechanical treatment in a mill, the powder with a density of 3.2 g / cm ^{3 has} 99.8 mass% SiC and thus forms the “clean” fraction. The Si content is 0.03 mass% and S1O2 0.02 mass%, that of C-free is 0.11 mass%, the Fe content is 0.02 mass% , the other contents of metallic impurities could all be reduced significantly to <20 ppm. The powders with the densities of 2.5 g / cm ³ and 3.9 g / cm ³ were combined and form the “contaminated” fraction. This fraction contains 10.4 times the amount of impurities compared with the “clean” fraction.

The mean particle size after thermal treatment and mechanical cleaning in the clean fraction is 59.7 gm. This means that the particles are on average 3.6 times larger than the starting material which was placed in the protective gas furnace.

As a result of the method according to the invention, the “clean” fraction has a mass fraction of 84 mass%.

Before the mechanical treatment, the thermally treated powder had a large number of secondary particles in the interstices of which the impurities had accumulated. After mechanical treatment, the “clean” fraction almost exclusively contains primary particles. On these particles there are island-shaped metallic melts made of FesSh on the convexly shaped parts of the particle surfaces and at the points where, due to the mechanical forces introduced, the secondary particles have been converted back into primary particles. The remaining secondary particles show impurities in the interstices of the intergrown particle agglomerates.

The presence of these impurities, which are firmly bound to the SiC particles, has been verified by means of SEM. The metallic impurities have a wetting angle to the SiC particle surfaces between 30 and 75 °, proven by image analysis evaluations of the bevels of the powder particles.

Example 4

10 kg of a dusty SiC powder as a secondary accumulation from SiC processing, containing 97.5% by weight SiC, 0.4% by weight C-free, 0.6% by weight Si, 0.5% by weight S1O2, 0.2 mass% Fe and impurities with Al, V, Ti and Ca in the range of> 100 ppm, is mixed with 100 g iron powder and 60 g Si powder. The powder mixture has a means Laser diffraction determines a mean grain size of 16.4 gm. The bulk density of the powder mixture is 1 g / cm ^3. The powder mixture is poured loosely into graphite crucibles. The crucibles are heated in an oven under vacuum at 7.5 K / min up to 2050 ° C and held there at 2050 ° C for 270 min.

The cooling is carried out at a rate of 10 K / min.

After cooling, the powdery contents of the crucible are treated in a mill with 0.2 MJ / kg and divided into two fractions due to different surface potentials in the electric field.

Before the mechanical treatment, the SiC powder has an SiC content of 98.3%, in particular the metallic impurities are in the same order of concentration as the starting powder.

After mechanical treatment in the mill, the “clean” fraction has 99.2 mass% SiC. The Si and S1O2 content is 0.3% by mass and 0.2% by mass, respectively, that of C-free is 0.2% by mass, the Fe content in the clean fraction is 0.1 % By mass, the other contents of metallic impurities could all be reduced significantly to <100 ppm.

The “contaminated” fraction contains 9.6 times the amount of impurities compared to the “clean” fraction.

The mean grain size after thermal treatment and mechanical cleaning in the “clean” fraction is 33 μm. This means that the particles are on average 2 times larger than the starting material that was put into the protective gas furnace.

As a result of the method according to the invention, the “clean” fraction has a mass fraction of 87 mass%.

Before the mechanical treatment, the thermally treated powder had a large number of secondary particles in which the impurities had accumulated in their interstices. After mechanical treatment, the “clean” fraction almost exclusively contains primary particles. On these particles there are island-shaped metallic melts made of FesSh, FeSi and FeS on the convexly shaped ones Parts of the particle surfaces and at the points where, due to the mechanical forces introduced, the secondary particles have been converted back into primary particles. The remaining secondary particles show impurities in the interstices of the intergrown particle agglomerates.

The presence of these impurities, which are firmly bound to the SiC particles, has been verified by means of TEM.

Example 5

10 kg of a powdery SiC powder as a secondary accumulation from the SiC raw material production, containing 92.6 mass% SiC, 2.75 mass% C-free, 0.1 mass% Si, 3.5 mass% S1O2, 0.2 mass% Fe and impurities with Al, V, Ti and Ca in the range of> 400 ppm, is mixed with 150 g sand and 25 g graphite powder. The powder mixture has an average grain size of 100 μm determined by means of laser diffraction. The powder mixture is poured loosely into graphite crucibles and then compressed ^{to> 1g / cm 3.} The crucibles are heated in a protective gas furnace under an argon atmosphere at 5 K / min up to 1900 ° C, the pressure is set to 70,000 Pa negative pressure. The temperature is held at 1900 ° C. for 180 minutes.

The cooling is carried out at a rate of 25 K / min.

After cooling, the powdery crucible content is treated in a mill with 0.1 MJ / kg and divided into three powders with particle sizes of <20 pm, 20-70 pm,> 70 pm by means of a cyclone series connection.

Before the mechanical treatment, the SiC powder has an SiC content of 98.3 mass%, in particular the metallic impurities are in the same order of concentration as the starting powder.

After mechanical treatment in the mill, the powder with a particle size of> 70 μm has an SiC content of 98.5% by mass as a “clean” fraction. The Si and S1O2 content is 0.1% by mass and 0.1% by mass, respectively, that of C-free at 1% by mass, the Fe content is 0.1% by mass, the other contents of metallic impurities could all be significantly reduced to <200 ppm.

The powders with particle sizes <20 pm and 20-70 pm were combined to form the “contaminated” fraction.

The “contaminated” fractions contain 2.3 times the amount of contaminants compared to the “clean” fraction.

The mean grain size after thermal treatment and mechanical cleaning in the “clean” fraction is 125 μm. This means that the particles are on average 1.25 times larger than the starting material that was put into the protective gas furnace.

As a result of the method according to the invention, the “clean” fraction has a mass fraction of 90 mass%.

Before the mechanical treatment, the thermally treated powder had a large number of secondary particles in the interstices of which the impurities had accumulated. After mechanical treatment, the “clean” fraction almost exclusively contains primary particles. Island-shaped metallic melts of carbides and silicides of silicon and vanadium are present on these particles on the convex parts of the particle surfaces and at the points where, due to the mechanical forces introduced, the secondary particles have been converted back into primary particles. The remaining secondary particles show impurities in the interstices of the intergrown particle agglomerates.

Claims

1. A method for separating impurities from silicon carbide, in which powdered SiC waste products containing at least 50 mass% SiC with an average grain size dso, measured by laser diffraction, between 0.5 and 1000 μm and a minimum content of 0.1 mass .-% iron and 0.1 wt .-% metallic silicon, have been subjected to a temperature treatment in a vacuum or non-oxidizing atmosphere at temperatures of 1400-2600 ° C and cooled, mechanically treated and physically separated, and then a breakdown of the physically separated SiC powder is carried out in two fractions, of which the mass of impurities in one fraction is at least a factor of 2 higher than in the other fraction.

2. The method according to claim 1, in which the mass of impurities in one fraction is at least a factor of 10, advantageously at least a factor of 20, higher than in the other fraction.

3. The method according to claim 1, in which the powdery SiC waste products have at least 75 mass% SiC, advantageously 80 mass% SiC, further advantageously 85 mass% SiC, further advantageously 90 mass% SiC.

4. The method according to claim 1, in which powdered SiC waste products which have at least 50 mass% SiC with an average grain size d 50, measured by laser diffraction, between 0.5 and 500 μm are used.

5. The method according to claim 1, in which powdered SiC waste products which have at least 50 mass% SiC with an average grain size d 50, measured by laser diffraction, between> 500 to 1000 μm are used.

6. The method according to claim 1, in which powdered SiC waste products, which have at least 50 wt .-% SiC with an average grain size dso, measured by laser diffraction, between> 500 to 1000 pm, a temperature treatment at temperatures of 1,400 to <2,000 ° C to be subjected.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the powdery SiC waste products which have at least 50 wt .-% SiC with an average grain size dso, measured by laser diffraction, between 0.5 and 1000 pm, and which have a content of 0.5 to 5.0 wt .-% iron and 0.5 to 5.0 wt .-% metallic silicon can be used.

8. The method according to claim 1, in which the temperature treatment of the SiC waste products is carried out at temperatures of 1,400 - <2,000 ° C.

9. The method according to claim 1, in which the temperature treatment of the SiC waste products is carried out at temperatures of 2,000-2,600 ° C.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the temperature treatment under

Vacuum or non-oxidizing atmosphere during the heating phase in the temperature range from 1200 ° C to <1400 ° C and from 1400 ° C to 1800 ° C with heating rates of less than or equal to 8 K / min.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the temperature treatment below

Vacuum or non-oxidizing atmosphere is carried out during the heating phase above 1800 ° C with heating rates of less than or equal to 5 K / min.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the temperature treatment under

Vacuum or non-oxidizing atmosphere with hold times at the

Maximum temperature of 10 min to 300 min is carried out.

13. The method according to claim 1 or 10, wherein the temperature treatment is carried out under a non-oxidizing atmosphere with an amount of non-oxidizing gases of 0.5 to 30 l / h.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the temperature treatment under

Vacuum or non-oxidizing atmosphere is carried out with removal of gaseous reaction products.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1, in which the powdery SiC is cooled at a cooling rate of 0.1 to 100 K / min.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1, in which the powdery SiC is cooled in a temperature range between 1200 ° C. and 800 ° C. at a cooling rate of 0.5 to 10 K / min.

17. The method according to claim 1, in which the mechanical treatment of the recycled powdery SiC is carried out by applying a mechanical impulse, advantageously by mixing, milling, still advantageously by autogenous milling, or by using eddy currents and / or ultrasound.

18. The method according to claim 17, in which the mechanical treatment is carried out with an energy input between 0.1 and 5 MJ / kg.

19. The method according to claim 1, in which the physical separation of the recycled powdery SiC is carried out according to the particle size, the particle shape, the density and / or the physical and / or chemical surface properties of the particles.

20. The method according to claim 19, in which the separation according to the particle size and / or particle shape is carried out by sieving, sifting and / or cyclone processes.

21. The method according to claim 19, in which the separation is carried out by the action of inertial forces with respect to the particle density by means of flotation, sedimentation, sifting, centrifugation and / or cyclone processes or the separation according to the density of the particles is carried out by flotation and / or cyclone processes.

22. The method according to claim 19, in which the separation into a fraction with at least 95% by mass, advantageously at least 98% by mass, still advantageously at least 99% by mass, silicon carbide is carried out.

23. The method as claimed in claim 1, in which essentially metallic impurities are separated off as impurities.

24. The method according to claim 1, in which to remove impurities in the form of Si and / or C during the temperature treatment carbon, advantageously carbon black, graphite and / or coke powder, and / or silicon and / or silicon dioxide (S1O2) to achieve a possible stoichiometric composition of the SiC is added.

25.Temperature-treated silicon carbide powder, which contains SiC powder particles and essentially metallic impurities in the form of mixed metallic phases, has metallic impurities on the planar and / or convex surfaces of the silicon carbide powder particles, which are island-shaped or arranged in the gaps or interstices between silicon carbide powder particles and are firmly bonded to one or more silicon carbide powder particles and in which the impurities have a wetting angle between 10 ° and 90 °.

26. Purified silicon carbide powder comprising at least 98 mass% SiC and a maximum of 2 mass% essentially metallic impurities, the impurities being arranged essentially on the surface of the silicon carbide powder particles.

27. The purified silicon carbide powder according to claim 26, wherein the purified silicon carbide powder comprises at least 99 mass% SiC.

28. Purified silicon carbide powder according to claim 26, wherein the impurities are present in the form of island-shaped melts of metallic mixed phases on the surface of the silicon carbide powder particles, which are firmly bonded to the surface of the particles after mechanical treatment of the silicon carbide powder particles.

29. Purified silicon carbide powder according to claim 26, wherein metallic impurities in primary particles of silicon carbide on the surface and in the case of secondary particles of silicon carbide are arranged on the surface and / or in the interstice of the particles.

30. The purified silicon carbide powder according to claim 26, wherein the impurities on the surface of the silicon carbide powder particles are arranged substantially on the convex-shaped parts of the surface of silicon carbide powder particles.