Ablation and mechanical investigation of carbon/rubber woven laminates for ultrahigh temperature applications

Abstract

Abstract A novel needled carbon/rubber woven laminate was fabricated using heat vulcanizing silicone rubber and polyarylacetylene (PAA) as the matrix and two-dimensional carbon fiber (TCF) woven fabrics as the reinforcement phase. The tensile strength and hardness of the laminates were increased with the increasing of the content of PAA due to better compatibility between PAA and TCF. Ablation testing results demonstrated that the ablation rate firstly deceased and then increased with increasing of PAA content due to charring action of PAA and the formation of a loose ablation layer with cracks.