Ultra-high temperature ceramics modified carbon/carbon composites

Abstract

Carbon/Carbon(C/C) composites are widely used in aerospace industry due to their diverse advantages such as low density, reliable thermal shock resistance and excellent mechanical properties at elevated temperatures. However, their awful oxidation resistance, especially at higher temperatures, has greatly limited their further applications. Ultra-high temperature ceramics(UHTCs) are ceramics whose melting points are higher than 3000 ℃. Some advanced performances like high strength, high hardness and outstanding thermal stabilities have given the UHTCs huge potential in ultra-high temperature applications. Using UHTCs to modify the matrix of C/C composites is a commonly applied method to improve the oxidation resistance of the C/C composites. There are numerous methods to fabricate UHTCs modified C/C composites(C/C-UHTCs), yet none of them could assure low cost, high efficiency and uniform bulk density simultaneously. Compared to C/C composites, C/C-UHTCs possess better performances both in anti-oxidation ablation and mechanical properties. But, the long-term(over 120 s) anti-oxidation ablation properties and anti-oxidation ablation properties of prototype structures are waiting to be improved to meet the updated requirements of modern sharp-edged aerospace vehicles. Meanwhile, reducing the brittleness of the modified composites and improving the reliability of the structure should be considered in order to avoid the hazard brittle fracture of the composites. In order to provide references to future studies, the state of the arts of the C/C-UHTCs were reviewed from four perspectives, which were manufacture processes, microstructure morphologies, anti-oxidation ablation properties and mechanical performances. Moreover, the future research tendency of this kind of composites was also predicted in this work.

Keywords

• uhtcs
• c/c composite
• oxidation resistance
• matrix modification