Effects of reflectivity on laser-ablation resistance of the laser-cladding repaired Nd₂O₃ modified SiO₂ coatings on C/C composites

To repair the damaged SiC coated C/C composites, a double-layer coating including a SiO₂-Nd₂O₃ external layer (∼60 μm) and a Si-SiC inner layer (∼240 μm) was prepared by a slurry-based laser cladding technique, and the laser-ablation tests under two heat fluxes (23.89/39.81 MW m⁻²) were performed. The spectrophotometer, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and 3D profilometer were used for characterization. For avoiding the secondary damage of laser-ablation, the laser-reflection of the repaired area was enhanced, which was conducive to the mitigation of mass and linear ablation. Combined with Finite Element Analysis, by raising the reflectivity, the surface and back temperature of samples could be reduced greatly by 1224 K and 983 K respectively, and plenty of ablation reactions could be avoided. Therefore, the SiO₂-Nd₂O₃ coating possessed an excellent laser-ablation resistance and protected the C/C substrates from thermal damage and oxidation effectively.