The present work deals with the sintering of SiC with a low melting additive by microwave technique. The mechanical characteristics of the products were compared with that of conventionally sintered products. The failure stress of the microwave sintered products, in biaxial flexure, was superior to that of the products made by conventional sintering route in ambient condition. In firing of products by conventionally sintered process, SiC grain gets oxidized producing SiO₂ (∼ 32 wt%) and deteriorates the quality of the product substantially. Partially sintered silicon carbide by such a method is a useful material for a varieties of applications ranging from kiln furniture to membrane material.

Ultra low and negative expansion glass–ceramic materials have been obtained from pyrophyllite and blast furnace slag. The batch composition was modified with the addition of lithium carbonate, hydrated alumina, boric acid and nucleating agent (titania). The batch was melted at 1400°C followed by casting in the form of bars and annealed at 510°C for 4 h. The annealed specimens were subjected to heat treatment at predetermined temperatures selected from DTA study of the parent glass. Thermal expansion measurement and X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the specimen nucleated at 545°C for 4 h and crystallized at 720°C for 2 h which resulted in negative coefficient of thermal expansion [(–) 9 to (–) 2 × 10$^{-7}/{}^\circ $C] over the temperature range (30–600°C) due to the formation of 𝛽-eucryptite while other heating schedule showed the formation of spodumene and lithium aluminium silicates. The samples showed excellent flexural strength value and varied in the range 120–200 MPa depending upon the phases present.