Ablation Characteristics of TiO2 / UPE-PMMA Blend Nanocomposites: Empirical and Simulation Approaches

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles as reinforced material in terms of volume fractions are used to fabricate unsaturated polyester (UPE) with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) blend nanocomposites. Ablation properties have been studied for (20 UPE vol.% and 80 PMMA vol. %) blend polymer in terms of reinforcement with TiO2 nanoparticles. Ultrasonic dispersion technique was used to prepare the nanocomposites, follow with cold - casting technique using flash Teflon molds at standard conditions. The oxy-acetylene flame technique is using for ablation test. Ablation rate was dropped at a high volume fraction of TiO2. Thermal conductivity - ablation rate relationship, displays two mechanisms, the first, associated with the starting of the test, is recognized by the ideal distribution of TiO2, which leads to thermal dispersion due to the formation of a segregated network of thermal conducting paths. The second mechanism is associated with ablation test recognized by shearing cracks appearance, which leads to earlier char production mechanism. Ablation was simulated using finite difference method to predict ablative time