Cyclic ablation behavior and microstructure evolution of multi-layer coating on C/C composites under oxyacetylene torch

The cyclic ablation resistance of coated carbon/carbon (C/C) composites play crucial roles in their further engineering applications and development due to the cyclic ablation environment accompanied by rapid heating and cooling and high-speed heat flow scouring, which can reflect the performance stability of the coating. In this research, a (SiC/HfC)₄/SiC (SHS) multi-layer coating was prepared on C/C composites. Compared with single layer (SiC and HfC coating) coated sample, the mass and linear ablation rate of SHS coated sample after three ablation cycles (60 s × 3) were only 0.64 mg/s and 0.53 μm/s, respectively. This is mainly because the introduction of many interfaces inhibits the propagation of cracks, the irregular cracks region only exists in the outer layer. Besides, the oxide layer with dense structure was formed near the C/C substrate, which could prevent oxygen from penetrating into the coating and continue to play a protective role.