Impact resistance of 2D plain-woven C/SiC composites at high temperature

2D plain-woven C/SiC has wide application in the Thermal Protective Structures of spacecraft, which will inevitably suffer the external impact load in a high temperature service environment. This paper focuses on the impact experimental study of C/SiC composites by using a specially-designed Simultaneous Heating-Cooling System. The mechanical responses and the damage features of C/SiC composites at high temperature are compared with those at room temperature. Similar damage modes and the "three stages" trend of the damage area vs. impact energy can be found, including the sharp stage, the linear stage and the stable stage. At high temperature, the critical penetration energy of 3-mm C/SiC plate is higher than that at room temperature, and the damage degree is lighter when the impact energy is lower than 13. J, which means the high impact resistance of C/SiC at high temperature under low-energy impact. However, when the impact energy exceeds 13. J, serious damage is found at high temperature; in this case, more attention should be paid to the design of the Thermal Protective Structure.