A multicomposition resistant coating for SiC coated carbon/carbon (C/C) composites was produced by pack cementation technique in an argon atmosphere. This multicomposition coating was characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy technique, and the oxidation behaviors of C/C with this multicomposition coating were also investigated in air using thermogravimetry. The results indicate that a dense coating with an average thickness of 200 μm can be got using pack cementation technique. The coating is composed of Al 2 O 3 , CrAl 0.42 Si 1.58 , SiC, and Al 4 SiC 4 . This multicomposition coating could effectively protect the composites from exposure to atmosphere at 1873 K for 49 h with the weight loss of the coated C/C composites being only 1.84%.
IntroductionCarbon/carbon composites (C/C) exhibit excellent high-temperature mechanical properties and are considered as the unique thermostructural materials in many potential applications, such as the engine, aerospace, and the thermonuclear fusion where most of the ceramic and metallic materials cannot be used. However, their applications are limited in oxidative environments by the fact that the carbon materials could be oxidized above 400°C [1,2]. It is therefore important for their applications to increase the resistance of the materials towards air oxidation at high temperature.Under such a circumstance, oxidation-resistant coatings are the logical choice for protecting C/C composites. SiC is a widely used coating material owing to its excellent antioxidation properties and good compatibility with the C/C [3-6]. Al 2 O 3 and Cr 2 O 3 ceramic coatings are promising candidate materials for high-temperature applications. Al 2 O 3 coating produced by plasma spraying shows a good high-temperature wear and corrosion resistance [7,8]. In recent works, coatings with Al 2 O 3 and Cr 2 O 3 had been developed to protect nickel materials, steel, and alloys from high-temperature oxidation and corrosion by employing pulsed laser deposition (PLD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), plasma spraying technique, and plasma detonation technique [9][10][11][12][13]. As for C/C composites, ion assisted electron beam physical vapor deposition (EB PVD) and pack cementation technique had been used to deposit (Cr-Al) bilayer and Al 2 O 3 -mullite-SiC-Al 4 SiC 4 multicomposition coating [14,15]. Pack