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Testing of Advanced Conformal Ablative TPSIn support of the CA250 project, this paper details the results of a test campaign that was conducted at the Ames Arcjet Facility, wherein several novel low density thermal protection (TPS) materials were evaluated in an entry like environment. The motivation for these tests was to investigate whether novel conformal ablative TPS materials can perform under high heat flux and shear environment as a viable alternative to rigid ablators like PICA or Avcoat for missions like MSL and beyond. A conformable TPS over a rigid aeroshell has the potential to solve a number of challenges faced by traditional rigid TPS materials (such as tiled Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) system on MSL, and honeycomb-based Avcoat on the Orion Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV)). The compliant (high strain to failure) nature of the conformable ablative materials will allow better integration of the TPS with the underlying aeroshell structure and enable monolithic-like configuration and larger segments to be used in fabrication.A novel SPRITE1 architecture, developed by the researchers at NASA Ames was used for arcjet testing. This small probe like configuration with 450 spherecone, enabled us to test the materials in a combination of high heat flux, pressure and shear environment. The heat flux near the nose were in the range of 500-1000 W/sq cm whereas in the flank section of the test article the magnitudes were about 50 of the nose, 250-500W/sq cm range. There were two candidate conformable materials under consideration for this test series. Both test materials are low density (0.28 g/cu cm) similar to Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) or Silicone Impregnated Refractory Ceramic Ablator (SIRCA) and are comprised of: A flexible carbon substrate (Carbon felt) infiltrated with an ablative resin system: phenolic (Conformal-PICA) or silicone (Conformal-SICA). The test demonstrated a successful performance of both the conformable ablators for heat flux conditions between 50-500 W/sq cm. The recession and temperature profile for these materials were comparable to PICA proving them to be viable alternatives for TPS technology development for future missions.
Document ID
20140001019
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Presentation
Authors
Gasch, Matthew (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Agrawal, Parul (Erc, Inc. Moffett Field, CA)
Beck, Robin (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
March 5, 2014
Publication Date
June 17, 2013
Subject Category
Chemistry And Materials (General)
Fluid Mechanics And Thermodynamics
Report/Patent Number
ARC-E-DAA-TN9849
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Planetary Probe Workshop
Location: San Jose, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: June 17, 2013
End Date: June 21, 2013
Sponsors: San Jose State Univ.
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 985295.01.02.03
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNA10DE12C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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