A novel design of Al-Cr alloy surface sealing for ablation resistant C/C-ZrC-SiC composite

To improve anti-ablation property of C/C-ZrC-SiC composite, a novel design of Al-Cr alloy surface sealing was performed by liquid melt impregnation. Results show that Al8Cr5 formed on the surface which could effectively seal the holes and cracks. The cooperation of metal and ceramics contribute a better anti-ablation performance to the obtained composite, and its mass and linear ablation rates decrease by 98.3% and 81.2% respectively. This special surface structure evolves into a highly dense oxide scale comprising various solid solutions (including Al-Cr-O, Al-Si-O, Cr-Si-O) and ZrO2, which could significantly improve the anti-ablation performance of C/C-ZrC-SiC composite.