We report on recent advances in liquid phase epitaxial (LPE) conversion of a bulk Si wafer into self standing 3C-SiC. This includes the role of the stress control within the (100) oriented "crucibles", the elaboration of crack-free (111) "crucibles" and the successful conversion of (100) and (111) oriented Si wafer. To date up to 100 mu m thick 3C-SiC(100) as well as 30 mu m thick crack-free 3C-SiC (111) materials have been obtained. The growth rate ranges from 20 to 100 mu m/h and locally can even reach similar to 1mm/h. In this work we focus on the structural, morphological and optical properties of the LPE-grown material.