Self-Healing Porous Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics Enable Reusable Thermal Protection for Mars Atmospheric Entry

Self-Healing Porous Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics Enable Reusable Thermal Protection for Mars Atmospheric Entry | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Self-Healing Porous Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics Enable Reusable Thermal Protection for Mars Atmospheric Entry Satish Prajapati This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9681901/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The next generation of Mars landers and reusable re-entry vehicles requires thermal protection systems (TPS) that can withstand sequential hypervelocity impact damage fol lowed by extreme oxidizing environments at temperatures exceeding 1800°C. Current state-of-the-art ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs) such as ZrB2-SiC are inherently brittle; impact-induced microcracks serve as rapid oxygen diffusion channels, leading to catastrophic internal oxidation, spallation, and structural failure within seconds of re-entry heating. Here we report a computational discovery of a fundamentally new class of self healing porous UHTCs based on a ZrB2-SiC-ZrSi2-MoSi2 quaternary composition with engineered porosity (15 vol.%). Using reactive molecular dynamics, phase-field frac ture modeling, and finite-element ablation simulations, we demonstrate a two-stage au tonomous healing mechanism: (1) impact energy is absorbed via compressive pore col lapse rather than tensile crack propagation, reducing crack lengths by 84% compared to baseline UHTCs; (2) at re-entry temperatures, MoSi2 and ZrSi2 additives oxidize to form a low-viscosity (85 Pa·s at 1800°C) borosilicate melt that wets and infiltrates remaining cracks via capillary action (∆P ≈ 0.5 MPa) and subsequently reacts to form a permanent ZrSiO4 seal. Our simulations predict that a 10 mm thick self-healing TPS tile survives a 2 mm Al2O3 impact at 6 km/s followed by 300 seconds of Mach 20 re-entry heating with 94% strength retention and only 0.31 mm recession—a 13.7-fold improvement over baseline ZrB2-SiC. This work establishes a new paradigm for damage-tolerant, reusable TPS and provides a general framework for designing self-healing ceramics for extreme extraterrestrial environments. Materials Engineering Materials Theory and Modeling Ultra-high temperature ceramics UHTC ZrB₂-SiC self-healing ceramics thermal protection systems TPS Mars entry hypervelocity impact oxidation-driven healing borosilicate melt MoSi₂ phase-field modeling reactive molecular dynamics ReaxFF CTH hydrocode FIAT ablation capillary infiltration crack healing anti-sintering negative thermal expansion NTE ZrSiO₄ zircon grain boundary diffusion Mars Sample Return reusable TPS ceramic matrix composites computational materials science multiscale modeling DFT calculations Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann viscosity capillary pressure TTT diagram strength retention aerospace ceramics planetary entry hypersonic thermal protection Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files SupplementaryMaterial.pdf Supplementary Material Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9681901","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":638406664,"identity":"dba6a4ca-f363-4726-ba89-e8c2a78d1db8","order_by":0,"name":"Satish 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ceramics, UHTC, ZrB₂-SiC, self-healing ceramics, thermal protection systems, TPS, Mars entry, hypervelocity impact, oxidation-driven healing, borosilicate melt, MoSi₂, phase-field modeling, reactive molecular dynamics, ReaxFF, CTH hydrocode, FIAT ablation, capillary infiltration, crack healing, anti-sintering, negative thermal expansion, NTE, ZrSiO₄ zircon, grain boundary diffusion, Mars Sample Return, reusable TPS, ceramic matrix composites, computational materials science, multiscale modeling, DFT calculations, Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann viscosity, capillary pressure, TTT diagram, strength retention, aerospace ceramics, planetary entry, hypersonic thermal protection","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9681901/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9681901/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe next generation of Mars landers and reusable re-entry vehicles requires thermal protection systems (TPS) that can withstand sequential hypervelocity impact damage fol lowed by extreme oxidizing environments at temperatures exceeding 1800°C. Current state-of-the-art ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs) such as ZrB2-SiC are inherently brittle; impact-induced microcracks serve as rapid oxygen diffusion channels, leading to catastrophic internal oxidation, spallation, and structural failure within seconds of re-entry heating. Here we report a computational discovery of a fundamentally new class of self healing porous UHTCs based on a ZrB2-SiC-ZrSi2-MoSi2 quaternary composition with engineered porosity (15 vol.%). Using reactive molecular dynamics, phase-field frac ture modeling, and finite-element ablation simulations, we demonstrate a two-stage au tonomous healing mechanism: (1) impact energy is absorbed via compressive pore col lapse rather than tensile crack propagation, reducing crack lengths by 84% compared to baseline UHTCs; (2) at re-entry temperatures, MoSi2 and ZrSi2 additives oxidize to form a low-viscosity (85 Pa·s at 1800°C) borosilicate melt that wets and infiltrates remaining cracks via capillary action (∆P ≈ 0.5 MPa) and subsequently reacts to form a permanent ZrSiO4 seal. Our simulations predict that a 10 mm thick self-healing TPS tile survives a 2 mm Al2O3 impact at 6 km/s followed by 300 seconds of Mach 20 re-entry heating with 94% strength retention and only 0.31 mm recession—a 13.7-fold improvement over baseline ZrB2-SiC. This work establishes a new paradigm for damage-tolerant, reusable TPS and provides a general framework for designing self-healing ceramics for extreme extraterrestrial environments.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Self-Healing Porous Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics Enable Reusable Thermal Protection for Mars Atmospheric Entry","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-05-12 17:04:58","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9681901/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3d1ffa34-6ee7-4e5c-a6a3-99f503a54ac5","owner":[],"postedDate":"May 12th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":67946717,"name":"Materials Engineering"},{"id":67946718,"name":"Materials Theory and Modeling"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-12T17:04:58+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-05-12 17:04:58","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9681901","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9681901","identity":"rs-9681901","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}