Ablation behavior of ZrC-SiC-ZrB₂ and ZrC-SiC inhibited carbon/carbon composites components under ultrahigh temperature conditions

The ZrC-SiC-ZrB₂ and ZrC-SiC inhibited carbon/carbon composites wedge shaped components were fabricated by reactive melt infiltration and tested on an oxyacetylene torch at the heat flux of 2.38 MW/m² for 120 s. Compared with C/C composites, both of the inhibited composites components exhibited better ablation resistance. The tip temperatures of the composites components reached about 2500 °C. A structure evolution on the surfaces of the inhibited composites components included the porous ZrO₂ layer near the tip, the layered structure of the outer ZrO₂ layer and the subsurface ZrO₂-SiO₂ layer in the intermediate region and the SiO₂ layer in the tail.