Thermo-chemical recession characteristics of CFRP in an earth atmospheric re-entry environment

A reentry vehicle having a blunt configuration is subjected to a severe aerodynamic heating environment when reenteringthe earth's atmosphere. An ablator is a type of heat shield material that can be used effectively in the reentry vehicle. In particular, an ablator made of phenolic carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP) is known to possess superior resistance against aerodynamic heating. Phenolic CFRP is pyrolyzed and carbonized by aerodynamic heating and is recessed by oxidation. Although the recession value has been calculated in theoretical analysis, whether the predicted value and the value obtained from an actual earth atmospheric reentry are in agreement has not been determined. In this study, the measured value of the surface recession obtained from an actual earth atmospheric reentry was compared with the predicted value based on theoretical analysis. Consequently, it was confirmed that both values were in good agreement. Therefore, it is possible to predict the thermochemical recession value of phenolic CFRP that reenters the earth atmosphere with high accuracy.