Ablation behavior and thermal protection performance of TaSi2 coating for SiC coated carbon/carbon composites

For extending application of TaSi2 in complex coating system, the ablation behavior and thermal protection performance of TaSi2 coating is studied to evaluate its potential applications for anti-ablation protection of C/C composites. TaSi2 coating is prepared by supersonic atmospheric plasma spraying (SAPS) on the surface of SiC coated carbon/carbon (C/C) composites. Phase variation and microstructure are characterized by XRD and SEM, respectively. During the ablation process, the coating is quickly oxidized to SiO2 and Ta2O5 accompanied by a lot of heat consumption. The linear and mass ablation rates are 0.9 pm s(-1) and - 0.4 mg s(-1) after ablation for 80 s, respectively Results show that the prepared coating possesses optimal ablation performance under the heat flux of 2.4 MW/m(2). Moreover, the TaSi2 coating and SiC inner coating have good chemical and physical compatibility during the ablation process. Therefore, the excellent performance of TaSi2 coating during the ablation process makes it a candidate for anti-ablation protection for C/C composites.