Ablation-resistant carbide Zr0.8Ti0.2C0.74B0.26 for oxidizing environments up to 3,000 °C

Yi Zeng; Dini Wang; Xiang Xiong; Xun Zhang; Philip J Withers; Wei Sun; Matthew Smith; Mingwen Bai; Ping Xiao

doi:10.1038/ncomms15836

Ablation-resistant carbide Zr_0.8Ti_0.2C_0.74B_0.26 for oxidizing environments up to 3,000 °C

Nat Commun. 2017 Jun 14:8:15836. doi: 10.1038/ncomms15836.

Authors

Yi Zeng^{1

2}, Dini Wang¹, Xiang Xiong¹, Xun Zhang², Philip J Withers², Wei Sun¹, Matthew Smith², Mingwen Bai², Ping Xiao²

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
² School of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.

Abstract

Ultra-high temperature ceramics are desirable for applications in the hypersonic vehicle, rockets, re-entry spacecraft and defence sectors, but few materials can currently satisfy the associated high temperature ablation requirements. Here we design and fabricate a carbide (Zr_0.8Ti_0.2C_0.74B_0.26) coating by reactive melt infiltration and pack cementation onto a C/C composite. It displays superior ablation resistance at temperatures from 2,000-3,000 °C, compared to existing ultra-high temperature ceramics (for example, a rate of material loss over 12 times better than conventional zirconium carbide at 2,500 °C). The carbide is a substitutional solid solution of Zr-Ti containing carbon vacancies that are randomly occupied by boron atoms. The sealing ability of the ceramic's oxides, slow oxygen diffusion and a dense and gradient distribution of ceramic result in much slower loss of protective oxide layers formed during ablation than other ceramic systems, leading to the superior ablation resistance.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't