Synthesis and Ablation Resistance of C/C-SiC Composite Material: An Experimental Study

The high density C/C-SiC, an advanced composite material of carrier-based aircraft gas guide-plate, was fabricated in two steps, first, a rigid C-fiber rod, strengthened with an optimized structure of knitted C-fiber, was fabricated in axial rod method and then, the SiC thin films were coated on surfaces of the prefabricated highly porous substrate by chemical vapor deposition.The influence of the simulated aircraft gas on the microstructures, ablation-rate and ablated slag of C/C-SiC sample was investigated with scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy and electronic balance.The results show that the newly-developed C/C-SiC composite material does an excellent job as the carrier-based aircraft gas guide-plate.For example, the linear (mass) ablation-rate was about 0.0488 mm/s (0.0405 g/s), and the compact SiO₂ coatings, formed in the ablation on the surfaces of SiC-coated C-fibers with strong ablation-resistance in the ablated layers, act as a good oxidation barrier.