A novel ZrC–SiC coating was prepared on carbon/carbon (C/C) composites surface by solid phase infiltration
and the ablation properties of the ZrC–SiC coated C/C composites under oxyacetylene flame were
studied. The results show that the coating prepared on the condition of optimum process parameters
exhibits dense surface and outstanding anti-ablation ability. After ablation for 20 s, the mass ablation
rates of the coated C/C composites can be lowered to 2.36 × 10−3 g/s, 37.1% reduction compared with
uncoated C/C composites. The oxide layer composed of ZrO2 and SiO2 acts as oxygen diffusion barrier
and the evaporation of ZrO2 and SiO2 absorbs a great amount of heat from the flame and reduces the
erosive attack on the coating.