Abstract
A theory for ablation of glassy materials under laminar and turbulent heating is verified by using data from an AICBM nose cone that was recovered after flight from a typical 5000-naut mile trajectory. The missile geometry is of the Thor-Able type, and the ablative material on the spherical cap and cone is opaque quartz. Excellent agreement is found between theoretical and experimental results. The actual value for the maximum ablated thickness along the sphere and cone is 9% higher than the theoretical value, whereas the weight loss of ablated material from the spherical nose and cone agree within 20%. The fraction of ablated material which vaporized during re-entry is only 3% higher than the theoretical value. Most of the difference in these results can be explained by the effect of impurity material on the viscosity of opaque quartz.
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