A precursor of a zirconium diboride/silicon carbide (ZrB2/SiC) composite was synthesised via an organic–inorganic hybrid derived from gum karaya, tetraethyl orthosilicate, boric acid and zirconyl chloride starting materials. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of the as-synthesised dried hybrid revealed the formation of Si–O, Zr–O–C and B–O–B. X-ray diffraction revealed that the powder consists of only ZrB2 and β-SiC. Scanning electron microscopy and TEM of the composite powders showed that SiC and ZrB2 occurred in intimately mixed aggregates of spheroidal submicron sized particles for low (3M) boric acid concentration, while at high (5M) boric acid concentration, the two phases are larger with the ZrB2 adopting a blocky, angular morphology (∼10–30 μm long by 5 μm wide and thick), while the SiC remains spheroidal with ∼1 μm diameter particles in 10–20 μm diameter aggregates. Thermogravimetry–differential thermal analysis with the help of X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the formation temperature was low at 1275°C for ZrB2 and 1350°C for the SiC with 40 wt-% yield.
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