Method for producing high-purity, dense sintered sic material

A polycrystalline silicon carbide sintered material consisting of silicon carbide grains having a median equivalent diameter of between 1 and 10 microns, said material having a total porosity of less than 2% by volume of said material, and a silicon carbide (SiC) mass content of at least 99%, except for free carbon, wherein in said material a mass ratio of the content of SiC having a beta-type (β) crystallographic form to the content of SiC having an alpha-type (α) crystallographic form is less than 2, said material having a following elemental composition, by mass:

• less than 0.5% silicon in another form than SiC,
• less than 2.0% carbon in another form than SiC, and
• between 0.1 and 0.7%, in total, of at least one element selected from Al, B, Fe, Ti, Cr, Mg, Hf, Zr,
• less than 0.5% oxygen (O) and
• less than 0.5% in total of the elements Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu, and
• less than 0.5% alkali elements, and
• less than 0.5% alkaline earth, and
• between 0.05 and 1% nitrogen (N),
• the other elements forming the complement to 100%.