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

Abstract

Abstract 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\u202fµm\u202fs−1 and −\u202f0.4\u202fmg\u202fs−1 after ablation for 80\u202fs, respectively Results show that the prepared coating possesses optimal ablation performance under the heat flux of 2.4\u202fMW/m2. 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.