Glass waste derived silicon carbide synthesis via direct current atmospheric arc plasma

The paper presents the results of the experimental studies addressing the production of silicon carbide from glass waste by electric arc plasma processing. A feature of the method is the possibility of its implementation without the use of vacuum equipment. It is possible due to the effect of self-shielding of the reaction volume from atmospheric oxygen. This approach significantly simplifies the design of the electric arc reactor and its performance. After plasma processing of various types of glass waste (such as bottle glass, window glass, medical glass, quartz glass, parts of worn-out scientific and industrial equipment), silicon carbide based material was produced. Silicon carbide was obtained from a mixture of various glass waste at a current 200 A, where blend was first purified from unbound carbon and then was consolidated by spark plasma sintering at 1800 °C and 60 MPa pressure for 10 min. As a result, a ceramic bulk sample was fabricated from a mixture of glass waste of various origin. Such sample was characterized with hardness of 14.8 GPa, and attained density of 92.5 %. Despite a possible increase in the density due to impurities and inhomogeneities, the hardness of the fabricated sample is comparable to that of other silicon carbide based materials, including commercial ones. Since the hardness of the produced silicon carbide based material is comparable to that of commercial materials, the use of glass waste of various origin could be feasible for synthesis of silicon carbide based powders.