Novel designs of charring composites based on pore structure control and evaluation of their thermal protection performance

To improve the thermal protection performance of the charring composites in reentry vehicles subjected to the challenged aerothemodynamic environment, we design six kinds of charring ablators based on the pore structure control. At the same time, a thermal-fluid-chemical coupled ablation model is developed for evaluating the designed ablators’ performances. Based on this model, the coupled thermal-fluid-chemical responses of an existing composite with homogeneous pores’ distribution are calculated to validate the developed model. After that, the numerical results of the pore structure controlled charring composites indicate that a charring ablator with a reasonable pores’ distribution will have better thermal protection performance, especially in which the initial pores’ content rise at the locations near the ablator's bondline and in the middle of the thickness. This study will be a guidance for the design of charring composites for thermal protection application in reentry vehicles in a quantitative and efficient manner.