Hi Tom,
No, I haven't received info on the ASM symposium on hardmetals and related materials past, present and future. I've not much experience of SiC in wood wear applications; alumina ceramics seem to do the job quite well, at the moment. Using RBSiC's, like RESILIDE, in wood applications...
We use ceramic as vane seals in rotary valves. We also use diamond ground ceramic to protect the bore, endplates and rotor shaft from wear.
You might like to take a look at the following web page:
http://www.omegaslate.com/physical.htm
Wood, particularly in the form of pneumatically conveyed saw dust, can be extremely abrasive. An engineering grade RBSiC can offer 200 times the wear life of cast iron.
An engineering grade reaction bonded silicon carbide should have a hardness of 3000 to 3500 Vickers, whereas Sintered tungsten carbide might have a hardness of 1500 Vickers.
An engineering grade reaction bonded silicon carbide would be more wear resistant than Tungsten carbide in puverised...
