Ablation behavior and mechanism of 3D Cf/ZrC-SiC composites in a plasma wind tunnel environment

Three-dimensional needle-like C-f/ZrC-SiC composites were successfully fabricated by polymer infiltration and pyrolysis combined with ZrC precursor impregnation. The ablation properties of the composites were tested in a plasma wind tunnel environment at different temperatures and different times. The microstructure and morphology of the composites were examined after ablation by scanning electron microscopy, and their composition was confirmed by energy dispersive spectroscopy. The composites exhibited good configurational stability with a surface temperature of greater than 2273 K over a 300-1000 s period. The formation of ZrSiO4 and SiO2 melts on the surface of the 3D C-f/ZrC-SiC composites contributed significantly to improvement in their ablation properties. However, these composites exhibited serious ablation when the temperature was increased to 2800 K. The 3D C-f/ZrC-SiC composites obtained after ablation showed three different layers attributed to the temperature and pressure gradients: the ablation central region, the ablation transition region, and the unablation region. (C) 2015 The Ceramic Society of Japan and the Korean Ceramic Society. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.