Abstract
Ablation resistance as one important factor affecting the service life of SiC ceramic matrix composites that is highly valued in aerospace science and technology. In this study, high thermal conductivity (HTC) graphite films and carbon fibers reinforced C/SiC composites simultaneously, fabricating by precursor infiltration and pyrolysis (PIP) technology, to improve the ablation resistance of C/SiC composites. Three C/SiC composites were prepared from different quantity ratios of 2D fiber cloth to HTC graphite film with values of 1:0, 1:1, and 1:10. The microstructure, mechanical properties, thermal conductivity and ablation performance of C/SiC composites after plasma ablation test at 1500 °C for 600 s were investigated. The results showed that with the increase of graphite films’ contents, the thermal conductivity of composites was increased from 9.78 W/(m·K) to 333.34 W/(m·K). Additionally, the mass loss rate reduced from 1.18 to 0.74 mg/s and the linear ablation rate reduced from 0.64 to 0.18 mm/s, indicating that the addition of graphite films could effectively improve the ablation resistance of C/SiC composites.
High thermal conductivity SiC/SiC composites for fusion applications
