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Ablative
materials play a vital part in protecting critical structures from intense
heat. They provide
thermal protection via loss of mass. In other words, they act as a sacrificial material.
An ablative
material will insulate a part by absorbing heat through ablation and decompose.
When exposed to extreme heat, the material absorbs heat by increasing its
internal temperature and changes its physical and chemical structure. The heat
is then taken off the structure by a mass loss.
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The Experiment
A wooden stick was
chosen as the structure to be thermally protected. In this experiment the wooden
stick was cast into a mould of dry PHENOSET® microspheres and
burnt from one end of the mould.
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The Findings
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Material
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Observation
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Wooden stick
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Wooden stick burned while emitting
flame and smoke.
Burnt part turned to ash.
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Wooden stick wrapped in a cushion of
PHENOSET® microspheres
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The microspheres burned without
flames, just glowed red and became ash. The wooden stick however was left
untouched except for some soot.
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Microspheres wrapped around the stick glow
burn without flames |
Wooden stick inside is protected
microspheres act as a sacrificial media |
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Benefits of PHENOSET® microspheres
· Burns with a
glow with no smoke emission.
· Act as a
sacrificial media and burn off, protecting structure below it
· Ablative –
protect and insulate structures exposed to extreme thermal environment.
· Lightweight
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