Spectra of 25 carbon star envelopes

Remarkably, SiS is not detected in any envelope with a mass loss rate below 10^-6^M_{sun}_/yr while it is detected in all envelopes with mass loss rates above that threshold. We found that CS and SiS have similar abundances in carbon stars envelopes, while SiO is present with a lower abundance. We also found a strong correlation in which the denser the envelope, the less abundant CS and SiO are.

The trend is however only tentatively seen for SiS in the high mass loss rate range. Furthermore, we found a relation in which the integrated flux of the MgS dust feature at 30um increases as the fractional abundance of CS decreases. The decline in the fractional abundance of CS with increasing density could be due to gas phase chemistry in the inner envelope or to adsorption onto dust grains.

The latter possibility is favored by a correlation between the CS fractional abundance and the 30um feature, which suggests that CS is efficiently incorporated onto MgS dust around C-rich AGB stars. In the case of SiO, the observed abundance depletion with increasing density is most likely caused by an efficient incorporation onto dust grains. The latter possibility is favored by a correlation between the CS fractional abundance and the 30um feature, which suggests that CS is efficiently incorporated onto MgS dust around C-rich AGB stars.

In the case of SiO, the observed abundance depletion with increasing density is most likely caused by an efficient incorporation onto dust grains. We conclude that CS and SiO (very likely) and SiS (tentatively) are good candidates to act as gas-phase precursors of dust in C-rich AGB envelopes.