Passive/active oxidation transition for CMC structural materials designed for the IXV vehicle re-entry phase

摘要

This paper reports the experimental results of oxidation studies for the determination of the transition between passive and active oxidation of two silicon carbide-based materials produced by Heraldes-Safran (France) and MT Aerospace (Germany) with also the study of the oxidation kinetics in the active zone for the highest heating conditions of the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) re-entry trajectory. The transition between active and passive oxidation is determined for both materials using two different plasma facilities a low enthalpy one using the MESOX at PROMES-CNRS (Font-Romeu Odeillo, France) and a high enthalpy one using the Plasmatron at VKI (Rhode St Genese, Belgium) and the experimental results lead to the same transition law. Characterization by SEM of the oxidized samples (surface and cross-section) is shown. Mass loss rates in active oxidation conditions are reported for both Heraldes and MTA materials. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.