  New SiO multi-transition millimetre line observations of a sample of carbon
stars, including J=8-7 observations with the APEX telescope, are used to probe
the role of non-equilibrium chemistry and the influence of grains in
circumstellar envelopes of carbon stars. A detailed radiative transfer
modelling, including the effect of dust emission in the excitation analysis, of
the observed SiO line emission is performed. A combination of low- and
high-energy lines are important in constraining the abundance distribution. It
is found that the fractional abundance of SiO in these C-rich environments can
be several orders of magnitude higher than predicted by equilibrium stellar
atmosphere chemistry. In fact, the SiO abundance distribution of carbon stars
closely mimic that of M-type (O-rich) AGB stars. A possible explanation for
this behaviour is a shock-induced chemistry, but also the influence of dust
grains, both as a source for depletion as well as production of SiO, needs to
be further investigated. As observed for M-type AGB stars, a clear trend that
the SiO fractional abundance decreases as the mass-loss rate of the star
increases is found for the carbon stars. This indicates that SiO is accreted
onto dust grains in the circumstellar envelopes.
