High-temperature volumetric ablation model for thermal protective composites

The physical and chemical changes in the processes of heat transformation and ablation of thermal protective composites in practice or in fabrication were addressed, and a volumetric ablation model was put forward for the calculation of ablation of composites at high temperature in accordance with the laws of mass and energy conservation. With the model, the rate of mass loss, instantaneous temperature field and gas pressure in pores of a carbon-phenolic composite were numerically simulated and the results show that both penetration rate and temperature gradient decrease when ablation happens. The affected zone of pore pressure is narrower than that of temperature, and the maximum pressure increases with the increase of time and localizes deeper structure.