High-Temperature Transformations in Fibrous-Polymer Composites During Ablation Testing

Abstract

Ablation of composites based on phenol-formaldehyde resin, silica fabric, and hollow corundum microspheres was investigated. Addition of corundum microspheres reduced the thermal conductivity of the composite. As a result, the temperature at the exposure site increased, which increased (by 2.7 times) the linear rate of erosion and decreased (by 2.3 times) the length of the composite coking front. Ablation caused high-temperature mechanical and chemical erosion that led to several sequential and parallel chemical reactions that increased the composite porosity and formed high-temperature reaction products, mainly silicon carbide.