Oxidation protection of C/C composites by ultra long SiC nanowire-reinforced SiC–Si coating

• Novel ultra long SiC nanowire-reinforced SiC–Si coating was prepared.
• Continuous reticulate architecture of ultra long nanowires embedded in the coating.
• The cracking of the coating was significantly suppressed by ultra long SiC nanowires.
• The coating had good oxidation protective ability from room temperature to 1500 °C.

Ultra long SiC nanowire-reinforced SiC–Si oxidation protective coating was prepared on C/C composites by pack cementation and chemical vapor deposition. The cracking of the coating was significantly suppressed by continuous reticulate architecture of ultra long SiC nanowires, resulting in good oxidation protection for C/C composites. The thermogravimetric analysis result showed that the oxidation of the samples was a continuous weight gain process from room temperature to 1500 °C and the final weight gain was 1.43%. The isothermal oxidation result showed that the weight loss of the samples was 0.44% after oxidation at 1500 °C in air for 160 h.