High temperature oxidation of SiC under helium with low-pressure oxygen. Part 2: CVD β-SiC

In the frame of the Generation IV International Forum, Gas-cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) is one system studied by CEA (France). Helium pressurized at 7 MPa is the coolant and the nominal temperature of use is about 1300 K. The cladding materials currently considered is a SiC/SiC composite with a β-SiC coating. In case of accident, reactor temperatures can reach 1900–2300 K. A previous study was carried out to determine the physico-chemical behavior of another polytype, α-SiC, for comparison on the position of the active to passive transition and of the mass loss rates under active conditions to simulate a typical accident. Experimental oxidation tests at high temperature (1400–2300 K) on massive β-SiC samples processed by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) coupled to mass variation, SEM, XPS, AFM and roughness analyses enabled to determine the transition between passive and active oxidation regimes, and to study the resistance to oxidation of such material in some conditions that might be encountered in case of accident (high temperature increase up to 2300 K). Finally, the experimental results have shown that the transition from passive to active regime occurs at higher temperature for β-SiC than for α-SiC and that the mass loss rate of β-SiC is lower than the one measured for α-SiC on the common temperature range investigated (up to 2100 K).