A hot-pressing reaction technique for SiC coating of carbon/carbon composites

Abstract: A hot-pressing reactive sintering (HPRS) technique was explored to prepare SiC coating for protecting carbon/carbon (C/C) composites against oxidation. The microstructures of the coatings were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that, SiC coating obtained by HPRS has a dense and crack-free structure, and the coated C/C lost mass by only 1.84wt.% after thermal cycles between 1773K and room temperature for 15 times. The flexural strength of the HPRS-SiC coated C/C is up to 140MPa, higher than those of the bare C/C and the C/C with a SiC coating by pressure-less reactive sintering. The fracture mode of the C/C composites changes from a pseudo-plastic behavior to a brittle one after being coated with a HPRS-SiC coating. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]