A novel MoSi₂-rich coating on the SiC-Si coated C/C composites for the preparation and antioxidative properties at 1773 K and 1973 K

To provide a long-term oxidative protection for C/C composites at elevated temperatures, we designed and fabricated a novel MoSi₂-rich oxidation protective coating on the surface of SiC-Si coated C/C composites by a combined method of powder reactive sintering and molten silicon infiltration. The phase composition, microstructure and oxidation protective performance of the coating were investigated. The results show that as-prepared MoSi₂-rich coating had a dense structure with multiphase mosaic. After oxidation for 581 h at 1773 K in air, the mass loss of the coated specimen was only 1.83%. Particularly, the composite coating can effectively prevent C/C substrate from oxidation for more than 200 h at 1973 K in air, indicating that it possessed outstanding antioxidative capacity due to the rapid formation of the dense SiO₂ glass layer in a long-term high-temperature atmosphere.