Morphology and structure of airborne β-SiC fibres produced during the industrial production of non-fibrous silicon carbide

Clusters of airborne SiC fibres from the SiC industry have been studied by scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM, TEM). These fibres are produced as an unwanted side product during the industrial manufacturing of non-fibrous silicon carbide. It was found that the complex morphology seen for clusters of SiC fibres can be explained on the basis of the crystal structure of the fibres. By use of electron diffraction (ED) and high resolution electron microscopy (HREM) it was found that the SiC fibres can be described as needles based on face centred cubic structure (space group F 4−