Insight into the origin of oxidation behaviors of carbon fiber reinforced carbon aerogel composites with different porous skeletons

Facile preparation of a SiC@SiO 2 nanowire-toughened ZrB 2–SiC/SiC bilayer coating with good interfacial bonding, high toughness, and excellent cyclic ablation resistance on C/CA composites

“…Carbon fiber reinforced carbon aerogel (C/CA) composites, composed of carbon fibers with a low degree of crystallization and amorphous glassy carbon matrix of three-dimensional (3D) nanostructured porous particle skeletons, exhibit many impressive characters such as high strength and toughness, low thermal conductivity, and good large-size forming capacity [1−3]. Therefore, the composites are considered to be promising for applications as lightweight thermal insulation materials in thermal protection systems of reusable aerospace vehicles [4]. However, the inherent oxidation sensitivity of carbon skeletons in oxidizing atmospheres of more than 400 ℃ just like other carbon materials, as well as the unique microstructure of overlapped nanoparticles and interconnected nanopores, have made the oxidation become a bottleneck of restricting the application of C/CA in oxidizing environments.…”