Carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide composite-based sharp leading edges in high enthalpy plasma flows

Abstract Carbon fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC) and zirconium diboride-zirconium carbide (ZrB 2 -ZrC) modified C/SiC (C/SiC-ZrB 2 -ZrC) sharp leading edges (SLEs) were prepared in this study. Their ablation behaviors were tested in plasma wind tunnels. The results indicated that the ablation of C/SiC SLEs was controlled by the atomic oxidation of SiC, leading to the elimination of SiC. In contrast, C/SiC-ZrB 2 -ZrC SLEs showed little reduction in plasma flows. During ablation, a ZrO 2 skeleton was formed with silica filling inside by the atomic oxidation of SiC. The ZrO 2 skeleton suppressed the consumption of SiC, resulting in the improvement of the ablation resistance of C/SiC-ZrB 2 -ZrC SLEs.