Plasma etching in conjunction with scanning and analytical transmission electron microscopy was used to characterize the microstructure and microchemistry of silicon carbide sintered with yttrium-aluminum garnet (YAG). The Sic grains comprise a core/rim structure with small amounts of excess yttrium, aluminum, and oxygen being present in the rim while these elements are missing in the core. The core/ rim interface was found to be coherent, and both the core and the rim are composed of the same polytype, predominantly the 6H structure. These results suggest that Ostwald ripening by solution and reprecipitation controls the sintering mechanism in this system.

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