Microstructure and solid particle erosion of carbon-based materials used for the protection of highly porous carbon-carbon composite thermal insulation

Multiparticle erosion tests were performed on candidate coating (colloidal graphite paints) and cladding (dense carbon–carbon composites and graphite foil) materials employed to protect porous carbon–carbon composite thermal insulation in vacuum and inert-gas furnaces that utilize inert gas quenching. The dependence of the erosion rate on the angle of incidence of the erodent was examined and related to the microstructure and the mechanisms of material removal as observed by SEM. In addition, the effect of a thin chemical vapour deposited (CVD) carbon layer on top of a colloidal graphite paint coating and a graphite foil clad was investigated. The coating and cladding materials displayed a greater erosion resistance at all angles of incidence compared to the porous carbon–carbon composite. In general, the greatest erosion rate was found at an angle of incidence of 90°, where the erodent stream is perpendicular to the erosion surface, and brittle fracture was the predominant mechanism of material removal. The exception was the graphite foil material which displayed maximum erosion at an angle of incidence of 60°. For this material, two mechanisms were effective: disruption of the graphite flakes, which are mainly held together by mechanical locking, and a ploughing-like mechanism. The addition of a thin CVD carbon layer to colloidal graphite paint improved performance, whereas the erosion resistance of the graphite foil was slightly degraded as the CVD layer was too thin to prevent the ploughing-like mechanism.