TaC coatings with hybrid, (200) and (220) texture structure were prepared on carbon/carbon (C/C) composites by isothermal chemical vapor deposition with TaCl5-Ar-C3H6 system. The residual stress, hardness and ablation behaviors of the different coatings were characterized by Raman spectra, nano-indentation and oxyacetylene flame ablation machine respectively. Results shown tensile stress exists in the TaC coatings and increases when texture orientation turns from hybrid to (220) and (200), while nano-indentation hardness of the coatings also obeys the same trend. The deposited coatings could improve the ablation-resistance properties of C/C composites effectively. The texture structure also had great effects on the ablation properties and ablation morphologies of the coatings. The mass ablation rate obviously decreases when the texture structure changes from hybrid orientation to (200) and (220) orientations. The hybrid orientation and (200) texture coatings exhibit coarse oxide morphologies with crater or some breakage existed; while the (220) texture coating shows dense, molten oxide morphology. The main ablation behaviors of the hybrid, (200) and (220) texture TaC coatings are oxidation and particle denudation and block denudation, oxidation and block denudation, oxidation and mechanical erosion and block denudation, respectively. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.