Thermal/Mechanical Properties of Hafnium Carbide Coatings on Carbon-Carbon Composites

This study investigates thermal and mechanical characterization of Hafnium carbide coating on the C-f-C composites. The hafnium carbide coatings by vacuum plasma spray on the C/C-SiC composites are prepared to evaluate oxidation and wear resistance. We perform the thermal durability tests by thermal cycling at 1200 degrees C for 10 cycles in air and investigates the weight change of each cycle. We also evaluate the wear and indentation behavior using tungsten carbide ball indenter as a mechanical evaluation. As a result, the HfC coating is beneficial to reduce of weight loss during thermal cycling test and improve the elastic property of C/C-SiC composite. Especially, the HfC coating improves the wear resistance of C/C-SiC composite.