C/C-SiC composite fabricated via PCS-Si slurry reactive melt infiltration

The slurry reactive melt infiltration (RMI) method was used to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional RMI method utilized in preparing the large-irregular shaped C/C preform. C/C-SiC composite was successfully fabricated via PCS-Si slurry RMI. Results show that it has a favorable physical bonding between the PCS-Si slurry and the C/C preform. After RMI, most of the Si in the PCS-Si slurry coating infiltrated into the C/C preform, the density of the C/C preform increased from 1.24 to 1.52g cm(-3), and the open porosity decreased from 27.22% to 18.04%. SiC was formed on the surface as well as in the pores of the C/C preform. The as-received C/C-SiC composite showed a pseudo-ductile fracture behavior with a flexural strength of 76.4MPa. The mass ablation rate of the C/C-SiC composite is 0.34 mg s(-1), exhibiting much better ablation resistance than the C/C preform with a mass ablation rate of 1.80 mg s(-1).