Ablation resistance and mechanism of SiC/ZrC-ZrB₂ double layer coating for C/C composites under plasma flame

Abstract

To improve the ablation resistance of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites, a SiC/ZrC-ZrB₂ double layer coating was fabricated by pack cementation and slurry-sintering method. The ablation resistance of the SiC/ZrC-ZrB₂ coating was tested under plasma flame above 2300 °C. The results indicate that the SiC/ZrC-ZrB₂ double layer coating exhibits superior ablation resistance than the ZrC-ZrB₂ single layer coating. After being ablated under the plasma flame for 20 s, the mass and linear ablation rates of the ZrC-ZrB₂ coating are 0.89 mg/s and 15.3 µm/s, while those for SiC/ZrC-ZrB₂ coating are 0.09 mg/s and 24.15 µm/s, respectively. During ablation, the SiC inner layer can generate SiO₂ glass and result in the formation of ZrO₂-SiO₂ molten film. Compared with the ZrO₂ molten film formed on the ZrC-ZrB₂ coating surface, the ZrO₂-SiO₂ molten film with lower oxygen diffusion rate and viscosity enables the SiC/ZrC-ZrB₂ coating to have better self-healing ability. Therefore, the enhanced ablation resistance of the SiC/ZrC-ZrB₂ coating can be attributed to the formation of dense ZrO₂-SiO₂ molten film under the plasma flame.

Keywords

ablation / pack cementation / slurry / SiC/ZrC-ZrB₂ coating

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