Effects of preform structures on the mechanical and ablation properties of C/ZrC-SiC composites

In order to investigate the effects of preform structures on the mechanical and ablation properties of C/ZrC-SiC composites, 3D4X, 3D5X and 3DZC C/ZrC-SiC composites were fabricated with the same process. The mechanical and ablation properties of 3D4X, 3D5X, and 3DZC C/ZrC-SiC composites were investigated. Results showed that the tensile strength (122.26 MPa) and bending strength (233.29 MPa) of 3D5X C/ZrC-SiC composites were the largest, followed by the tensile strength (112.79 MPa) and bending strength (203.03 MPa) of 3DZC composites and the tensile strength (86.22 MPa) and bending strength (137.59 MPa) of 3D4X composites. The mechanical properties of C/ZrC-SiC composites were mainly related to the fiber content in the axis direction and matrix compactness. In terms of ablation properties, 3DZC C/ZrC-SiC composites acted out the worst performance (the linear ablation rates of 0.0293 mm/s and the mass ablation rates 0.00766 g/s), followed by 3D4X composites (the linear ablation rates of 0.0276 mm/s and the mass ablation rates 0.00683 g/s) and 3D5X composites (the linear ablation rates of 0.0175 mm/s and the mass ablation rates 0.00653 g/s), respectively, which were mainly due to the specific ablation angles, thermal conductivities, and ablation oxides contents caused by fiber volume fraction, braided angles, and other forming parameters.