Behavior of pure and modified carbon/carbon composites in atomic oxygen environment

• Published in: International journal of minerals, metallurgy and materials Vol. 21; no. 2; pp. 190 - 195
• Main Authors: Liu, Xiao-chong, Cheng, Lai-fei, Zhang, Li-tong, Luan, Xin-gang, Mei, Hui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.02.2014; Springer Nature B.V; Science and Technology on Thermostructural Composite Materials Laboratory, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
• Subjects: Atomic oxygen; Carbon; Carbon fiber reinforced plastics; Carbon fibers; Carbon-carbon composites; Ceramics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composites; Corrosion and Coatings; Degradation; Earth orbits; Erosion rates; Glass; Low earth orbits; Material properties; Materials Science; Metallic Materials; Natural Materials; Scanning electron microscopy; Silicon carbide; Spacecraft; Spacecraft construction materials; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; Tribology; 低地球轨道; 化学气相沉积; 原子氧环境; 扫描电子显微镜; 改性; 碳; 碳复合材料; 航天器材料; 行为; atomic oxygen; oxidation; carbon/carbon composites; ceramic matrix composites
• ISSN: 1674-4799; 1869-103X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12613-014-0884-y

Atomic oxygen （AO） is considered the most erosive particle to spacecraft materials in low earth orbit （LEO）. Carbon fiber, car-bon/carbon （C/C）, and some modified C/C composites were exposed to a simulated AO environment to investigate their behaviors in LEO. Scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, AO erosion rate calculation, and mechanical property testing were used to characterize the material properties. Results show that the carbon fiber and C/C specimens undergo significant degradation under the AO bombing. According to the effects of AO on C/C-SiC and CVD-SiC-coated C/C, a condensed CVD-SiC coat is a feasible approach to protect C/C composites from AO degradation.