Thermal cycling behavior and oxidation resistance of SiC whisker-toughened-mullite/SiC coated carbon/carbon composites in burner rig tests

An oxidation protective SiC whisker-toughened mullite coating was prepared on SiC coated carbon/carbon (C/C) composites by a novel sol-gel technique. The thermal cycling and oxidation behavior of the coated C/C coupons was investigated by thermally cycling between room temperature and 1450 ± 55 °C on a jet fuel burner rig facility. Results show that incorporating proper amounts of SiC whiskers can significantly improve the thermal cycling resistance of the mullite coating due to the energy dissipation mechanism induced by the whisker bridging and crack deflection.