LAUSR

Abstract The brittleness of MoSi2 ceramic and the thermal mismatch between MoSi2 coating and C / C composite lead to brittle cracking of the coating at 900−1200 °C. This problem has been overcome in this studyby introducing submicron-SiB6 into the coating. The pre-fabricated cracks and a kinetics model of hot-pressed SiB6-MoSi2 ceramic could quantitatively predict the glass growth and crack healing. As expected, enhancing temperature and SiB6 content increased the growth rate of the borosilicate glass and the crack healing ability of MoSi2 ceramic, which was ascribed to the lower oxidation activation energy and larger specific surface area of submicron-SiB6. For the plasma sprayed coating, SiB6 with submicron structure was benefit for cracking inhibition and formation of borosilicate glass during oxidation, reducing the oxygen permeability and the consumption of inner coating. Hence, the 15 % SiB6-MoSi2 coatings raised the protection times to 84 and 120 h at 900 and 1200 °C respectively, presenting favorable oxidation protective performance.