Microstructure of a Mo-Si-C-N multi-layered anti-oxidation coating on carbon/carbon composites by fused slurry

A Mo-Si-C-N multi-layered anti-oxidation coating was in-situ fabricated by introducing nitrogen atmosphere during the fused sintering of Mo-Si slurry pre-layer on carbon/carbon composites. The phase composition and microstructure of the Mo-Si-C-N coating were characterized by X-ray diffractometry, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The Mo-Si-C-N coating exhibited a three-layered structure. Besides the MoSi ₂/Si main-layer and the SiC bonding-layer, a surface layer of about 10 μm in thickness was synthesized on the coating surface. The surface layer mainly consisted of SiC nanowires and contained some Si₃N₄ and Si phases. SiC nanowires of 10 to 200 nm in diameter presented a terrace and distortion structure. Transmission electron microscopy indicated that the SiC nanowires grew along the preferred 〈111〉 direction. During oxidation test, SiC nanowires transmuted into SiO₂ glass, which can play an important role in improving the oxidation resistance of C/C composites.