Mechanically induced stiffening, thermally driven softening, and brittle nature of SiC

An effective interionic potential calculation with long range Coulomb, charge transfer interaction, covalency effect, short range overlap repulsion extended, van der Waals interaction, and zero point energy effect is implemented to investigate the pressure dependent structural phase transition (ZnS-type (B3) to NaCl-type (B1) structure), and mechanical, elastic, and thermodynamic properties of silicon carbide (SiC). Both charge transfer interaction and covalency effect are important in revealing the pressure induced structural stability, Cauchy discrepancy, anisotropy factor, melting temperature, shear modulus, Young’s modulus, and Grüneisen parameter. We also present the results for the temperature dependent behaviors of normalized volume, hardness, heat capacity, and thermal expansion coefficient. SiC is mechanically stiffened and thermally softened as inferred from pressure (temperature) dependent elastic constant’s behavior. The Pugh’s ratio ∅ = B T / G H, the Poisson’s ratio v, and the Cauchy’s pressure C 12–C 44 for SiC ceramic confirm its brittle nature.