Pyrolysis process and formation mechanism of water-based ZrC ceramics studied through a combined experimental and theoretical calculational method

ZrC has an important application in the field of supersonic aircraft, hypersonic spacecrafts and rocket engines. Normally, the toxic metal chelators and toxic organic reagents are used to prepare the ZrC ceramic precursors. In this paper, an environmentally friendly water-based ZrC ceramic precursors were synthesized in aqueous solvent via the combination of metal ion chelator and carbon source. Moreover, the water-based ZrC precursor was prepared by Tartaric Acid (TA) system can obtain high-purity ZrC ceramics. The experiment results indicated that the best Zr/C molar ratio in the precursor was 1:4. The synthetic mechanism of ZrC was Zr atoms reacted in situ to form ZrC. In addition, the effect of metal chelator carbon source assisted glucose carbon source on waterbased ZrC precursors can provide a certain experimental basis for subsequent research on water-based carbide precursors.