A thermodynamic assessment for synthesizing transition metal silicides by the combustion synthesis process

Transition metal silicides have important applications in various disciplines. These include uses as interconnects in chips, as coatings, as heating elements, etc. As their uses increased, various processing techniques were adopted to produce them. These vary from chemical/physical vapor deposition, rapid thermal processing, and sputtering for thin film processing; traditional vacuum casting and powder metallurgical routes are used to produce bulk samples. In this paper, the authors are interested in those transition metal silicides which have the potential for use in the bulk form, possibly in the aerospace or other demanding applications. The primary requirements are high refractoriness, low density, high strength and good oxidation resistance. It is the oxidation resistance that makes the silicides better candidates as compared to the other intermetallics. Meschter argued that most engineering materials retain substantial strength up to 80% of their melting points. Therefore, for an operating temperature of 1500C, the melting point of the typical candidate may be 1950C, while the limit in density can be defined by the density of Ni (8.75 gn/cc). As an alterative, combustion synthesis (CS) processing may prove to be a viable route for producing these transition metal silicides. In this process, and exothermic reaction is initiated in a compact containing stoichiometric mixture of elemental powders