A novel ZrC-SiC coating was prepared on carbon/carbon (C/C) composites surface by solid phase infiltration and the ablation properties of the ZrC-SiC coated C/C composites under oxyacetylene flame were studied. The results show that the coating prepared on the condition of optimum process parameters exhibits dense surface and outstanding anti-ablation ability. After ablation for 20 s, the mass ablation rates of the coated C/C composites can be lowered to 2.36 x 10(-3) g/s, 37.1% reduction compared with uncoated C/C composites. The oxide layer composed of ZrO2 and SiO2 acts as oxygen diffusion barrier and the evaporation of ZrO2 and SiO2 absorbs a great amount of heat from the flame and reduces the erosive attack on the coating. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.