Ablative Material Testing at VKI Plasmatron Facility

Abstract

Ablative material design and improvement need suitable ground testing under high enthalpy flow conditions using intrusive and non-intrusive measurement techniques. The main objective is to develop the ground testing environment adapted for the study of ablative materials at high heat flux levels and provide a database on precise information about the materials to be tested. This paper presents the studies aimed at the testing of graphite and cork ablative material samples at the Plasmatron Facility of the Von Karman Institute, under heat flux levels of around 5-7 MW/m 2