Effect of Ti3SiC2 on the ablation behavior and mechanism of Cf-C-SiC-Ti3SiC2 composites under oxyacetylene torch at 3000 °C

Abstract In this research, ablation resistance of Cf-C-SiC and Cf-C-SiC-Ti3SiC2 composites, fabricated by liquid silicon infiltration (LSI) method were investigated. The infiltration process was conducted at 1500 °C for 30 min and then the samples were annealed at 1350 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were utilized in order to investigate the phase composition and microstructure of the ablated samples, respectively. When compared with Cf-C-SiC composite, results showed that mass and linear ablation rates of Cf-C-SiC-Ti3SiC2 composite have been improved by 50% and 37.5%, respectively. The mass and linear ablations rates of Cf-C-SiC composite were reached to 23.8 mg/s and 0.096 mm/s, respectively, while these values for Cf-C-SiC-Ti3SiC2 were reached to 11.8 mg/s and 0.06 mm/s, respectively. Microscopic investigations showed that formation of protective oxide layer and its stability on the surface of MAX-containing composite are the main reasons for improvement of ablation properties. While the oxide film formed on Cf-C-SiC composite has been blown away by flame.