Evaluation of ablation resistant ZrC-SiC multilayer coating for SiC coated carbon/carbon composites under oxyacetylene and laser conditions

In this work, a multilayer coating based on ZrC-SiC system was fabricated on SiC coated carbon/carbon composites by plasma spraying. Ablation tests were carried out using oxyacetylene torch (2.38 MW/m2) and laser irradiation (113.18 MW/m2). The maximum temperatures reached values over 2000 degrees C for oxyacetylene ablation and 2784 degrees C for laser ablation. Macroscopical survey showed an unbroken profile of the sample after 600 s ablation, though microstructural analysis revealed the formation of a sintered scale with delamination and depletion region. Furthermore, the coating behaved attractive ablation resistance under laser ablation, with only shallow ablation pit developing after 15 s irradiation.

Automated summary

In this study, a multilayer coating based on ZrC-SiC system was successfully fabricated and its performance was evaluated through ablation tests. The results showed that the coating exhibited excellent ablation resistance, with only shallow ablation pit forming under laser irradiation.