Mechanical and thermal ablative behavior of ceramic-modified lightweight quartz felt reinforced phenolic aerogel

This paper reports a ceramic-modified lightweight composite for surface thermal protection of re-entry or hypersonic vehicles. The mixed ceramic resin is used to bond fiber felts, and then synthesize phenolic aerogels in situ inside felts. Ceramic resins are enriched on the fiber surfaces and intersections, protecting the composite's porous structure under high temperatures using ceramization and ablative products. The XY directional compressive strength is 6.48 MPa, and the Z directional full volume rebound compressive strength is 0.64 MPa. For the high-temperature ablation, the composite has a linear ablation rate of 0.017 mm/s, a weight loss rate of 0.024 g/s, and a backside temperature of 61.6 °C. Finite element modelling shows that the heat-affected zone is mainly concentrated in the upper part of the composite, and the backside temperature is below 200 °C. The prepared composites have a wide application in thermal protection under high heat flow aerodynamic ablation conditions.