Superior Performance of Ablative Glass Coatings Containing Graphene Nanosheets

Glass compositions in the Y₂O₃–Al₂O₃–SiO₂ (YAS) system are envisaged as promising coatings for high-temperature protection, in particular for the thermal protection systems (TPS) looked for aerospace applications. Recently, thermally sprayed YAS hybrid coatings containing a small amount of graphene nanoplateletes (GNPs) showed enhanced performance as compared to the blank YAS coating, demonstrated by the occurrence of unusual electrical conductivity for these glasses and the development of better mechanical compliance, both phenomena associated with the presence of GNPs. Nevertheless, a crucial issue is to demonstrate if these kinds of coatings would also have superior behavior under ablation conditions, particularly regarding the mentioned TPS applications. This work goes far beyond, exploring the ablative behavior of new YAS/GNPs coatings flame sprayed over SiC substrates. These essential tests were carried out under laboratory conditions, reaching limit temperatures of 1350°C while blowing gas. Results evidence that hybrid coatings having just 1.05 vol% GNPs show enhanced ablation resistance, actually withstanding up to 30 thermal cycles (between 200°C and 1350°C) without apparent damage. This satisfactory performance is linked to the benefits of the GNP additions, and fundamentally to the higher emissivity and the directional thermal conduction characteristics of the hybrid coatings—produced by the formation of a GNP network with a preferential surface parallel arrangement—that preclude the creation of hot spots and also hinder heat propagation toward the substrate; accordingly, coating degradation is constrained to the uppermost layer of these coatings.