Ablation Behavior of Materials Subjected To Missile Re-Entry Heat Flux Rates^★

Hypersonic vehicles, during re-entry, are exposed to transient heating involving extremely high heat flux rates. These heat flux rates have been simulated in the laboratory with the plasma discharge from high-intensity, air-stabilized electric arcs of approximately 1000-kw power rating. This paper describes the behavior of samples of ten different materials tested in this facility, including four metals, three ceramics, two plastics, and graphite. Ablation rates, heat balances, and effective heats of ablation are presented. The influence of changes in the test environment upon material behavior is indicated. In the highest temperature test environment utilized, the plastic and graphite samples provided lower stagnation point weight loss rates during ablation than the metal and ceramic samples. 3.5.9