A study on the effect of cenosphere on thermal and ablative behavior of cenosphere loaded ceramic/phenolic composites

- Cenosphere filled ceramic/phenolic composite is prepared using hand layup method.
- Studied effect of filler on thermal and ablative behavior of filled composites.
- Ablative properties of filled composite are highly influenced by filler content.
- Both linear and mass ablative rate decreased with increase of filler content.
- Addition of filler particles enhanced the thermal insulation of filled composites.

Composites of ceramic woven and phenolic resin filled with cenosphere were prepared and their thermal properties and ablative properties were studied by Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and oxyacetylene ablation test. Classical thermal stability parameters, based on initial decomposition temperature and mass loss at various temperatures were calculated before and after subtraction of cenosphere concentration from the TGA curves. Ablation behavior of the filled composites were investigated based on the linear ablation rate, mass ablation rate and back face temperature profiles. Without cenosphere mass subtraction, the thermal stability of the filled composites seems to be improved and reduction of mass loss was achieved with addition of cenosphere. Ablation results showed that the addition of cenosphere content exhibits the favorable ablation resistance. In comparison to neat ceramic/phenolic composites, the introduction of micro sized cenosphere particles embedded in the phenolic matrix significantly improved the ablative properties in terms of mass ablation rate and linear ablation rate.

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