Main problems in the creation of thermal-protection systems based on structurally heterogeneous materials and the methods of their solution

The review summarizes the advances of Russian and international science in the development and improvement of the properties of carbon–carbon and carbon–ceramic composites, focusing on mechanical, oxidative, and ablative properties. The most in-demand methods at present to modify composite matrices and to apply protective coatings to obtain heterophase compositions based on ultra-high-temperature ceramics are considered. Analysis of the fracture mechanisms of widely used engineering solutions makes it possible to identify promising concepts for the coating architecture. The mathematical formulations of nonlinear heat-transfer problems considering various physicochemical phenomena that occur in structurally heterogeneous materials are presented. The attention is focused on the asymmetry effects, finite speed, and wave nature of the heat propagation within the heat transfer in anisotropic materials. The current methods to assess the stress–strain state of thermally loaded composites and the methods to calculate the effective properties of the composite properties are analyzed.