Research Progress on Ultra-high Temperature Ceramic Composites

In response to the evolving landscape of high-speed aircraft, characterized by an expansive airspace, prolonged flight durations, and increased velocities, the thermal protection requirements for key structures such as the nose cone, leading edge, and engine combustion chamber have become more exacting.This necessitates a concerted focus on the development of high-performance thermal protection materials capable of withstanding extreme conditions.Ultra-high temperature ceramic composites have emerged as noteworthy candidates, showcasing exceptional oxidation and ablation resistance.Despite their commendable properties, the inherent brittleness of these composites poses a significant obstacle to widespread engineering applications.To address this limitation, there is a growing emphasis on toughening through structural modulation.Simultaneously, the imperative to enhance aircraft payload capacity underscores the demand for lightweight ultra-high temperature ceramic (UHTC) composites.This paper provides a systematic overview of the major research advances made in recent years on ultrahigh-temperature ceramic composites, including preparation methods such as pressure sintering, mud impregnation, pre-cursor impregnation cracking, reactive fusion infiltration, chemical vapor-phase infiltration, and solid-liquid combination processes, toughening methods such as particles, whiskers, soft-phase materials, short-cut fibers, and continuous fibers, as well as oxidation ablation-resistant mechanisms and lightweighting design.The relationship between the components, microstructures and properties of UHTC composites is discussed in depth, and the current challenges as well as the future development trends of UHTC composites are presented.