Ablation behavior and mechanism of C/ZrC, C/ZrC-SiC and C/SiC composites fabricated by polymer infiltration and pyrolysis process

The design and fabrication of materials suitable to withstand ultra-high temperatures and ablative conditions are stimulated by the increasing interest in hypersonic vehicles. One potential materials solution is carbon fiber reinforced composites with matrices containing ultra-high temperature ceramics. In this study, C/ZrC, C/SiC and C/ZrC-SiC composites with different SiC content have been prepared by polymer infiltration and pyrolysis process to investigate potential of ZrC-based composites for ultra-high temperature applications. A comparative study of their ablation behavior and mechanisms is conducted by oxyacetylene torch test. Moreover, a novel insight of self-healing is developed to understand the ablation behavior of C/ZrC-SiC composites. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.