Oxidation kinetics of the AlPO4 ceramic coatings by pulse arc discharge deposition on SiC–C/C composites

• Pulse arc discharge deposition was developed to prepare the AlPO4 coating.
• Oxidation activation energy of the coated samples is calculated to be 119.2 kJ mol−1.
• The oxidation kinetics of the as-prepared coatings was investigated.
• The AlPO4/SiC coating can protect C/C composites from oxidation in air at 1573–1773 K.

An AlPO4 oxidation-protective coating was successfully prepared on SiC pre-coated carbon/carbon composites (SiC–C/C) by pulse arc discharge deposition. The structure and oxidation resistance of the as-prepared AlPO4/SiC multilayer coatings were investigated. The results were confirmed by oxidation experiments performed at 1573 K, 1673 K and 1773 K, which demonstrated that the AlPO4/SiC coating could efficiently protect C/C composites from oxidation at 1773 K for 160 h with a weight loss of only 0.7%. The oxidation activation energy of the coated C/C composites at 1573–1773 K was calculated to be 119.2 kJ mol−1.