Chemical erosion of carbon/carbon composites doped with boron and silicon

Abstract

The chemical sputtering of carbon/carbon composites doped with boron and silicon has been studied as a function of temperature, in the range 500 to 1000 K. For a sample with ~ 10% dopants in the matrix, yield reductions of about a factor of two at low temperature, and up to a factor of 5 at high temperature, as compared to a reference C/C sample with no dopants, were observed. The dopant concentration does not significantly alter the distribution of hydrocarbons produced by the chemical sputtering process.