Effect of Biofield Treatment on Structural and Morphological Properties of Silicon Carbide

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a well-known ceramic due to its excellent spectral absorbance and thermo-mechanical properties. The wide band gap, high melting point and thermal conductivity of SiC is used in high temperature applications. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of biofield treatment on physical, atomic, and structural characteristics of SiC powder. The control and biofield treated SiC powder was analysed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), particle size analyzer, surface area analyzer, and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy techniques with respect to control. The XRD pattern revealed that crystallite size was significantly increased by 40% in treated SiC as compared to control. The biofield treatment has induced changes in lattice parameter, density and molecular weight of atoms in the SiC powder. Particle size was increased upto 2.4% and the surface area was significantly reduced by 71.16% in treated SiC as compared to control. The FT-IR results indicated that the stretching vibrations frequency of silicon-carbon bond in treated SiC (925 cm-1) was shifted towards lower frequency as compared to control (947 cm-1). These findings suggest that biofield treatment has substantially altered the physical and structural properties of SiC powder.

In summary, the biofield treatment has altered the particle size with the increment of 2.4% and significantly reduced the specific surface area by 71.16% in SiC powders. This could be due to change in particle shape and re-welding process caused by high energy milling through biofield treatment. Furthermore, the crystallite size in treated SiC powder was significantly changed as compared to control. Hence, the biofield treatment may affect the energy band gap of SiC. The shifting of IR peaks towards lower frequency revealed that silicon–carbon bond stretching might alter through biofield treatment. This indicates that biofield might be acting at atomic level in SiC powder to cause these changes. Altogether, the study results suggest that biofield treated SiC powder might be useful for high temperature electronic device applications.