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To improve ablation resistance of silicon carbide (SiC)-coated carbon/carbon (C/C) composites, in this study, zirconium carbide (ZrC) coating was prepared on the surface of SiC-coated C/C composites by supersonic plasma spraying. The coating exhibits dense structure, and a good bonding with substrate. The oxyacetylene ablation results show that the ZrC coating greatly improved the ablation resistance of SiC-coated C/C composites. After ablation for 30 s in oxyacetylene flame, the linear ablation rate is only 0.9 × 10 mm/s, and the weight is increased by 2.0 × 10 g/s. The excellent ablation resistance is mainly attributed to the formation of a dense and continuous zirconia (ZrO) layer during the oxidation of the ZrC coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In order to improve the ablation resistance of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites, a ZrC nanostructured coating was prepared on C/C composites by chemical vapor deposition. Results show that the coating contains ZrC grains with the size of 20–30nm and the structure displays a high consistent orientation. This nanostructured coating has improvements in linear and mass ablation rates of 50.7% and 42.1% compared with those of the conventional ZrC coating. The good ablation resistance could be attributed to the efficient prevention of the coating cracking and the formation of the dense ZrO2 layer during ablation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]