Advanced Ceramics and Composites based on Sustainable Resources

As a by-product of the agricultural industry, rice hulls are available at large volume across the world. There have been many disposal methods developed, but the true value of the rice hulls would be more appreciated when they are employed to produce high value-added products. Advanced ceramics, such as AlN nanowires, SiC whiskers, mullite and SiC/Al2O3 nano-sized composites, were produced and studied based on the rice hulls in this work. The SiC whiskers and AlN fibers were successfully prepared at high yield. Since the one-dimensional ceramic materials are valuable raw materials for many industrial applications, the study presented in this dissertation is particularly valuable. During the development of the one-dimensional ceramics, some unique morphology, such as the beaded SiC whiskers, together with their potential applications were also prepared and investigated.