Novel Low-Density Ablators Containing Hyperbranched Poly(azomethine)s

An ablative composite is low-density (0.25 to 0.40 g/cm3), easy to fabricate, and superior to the current state-of-the-art ablator (phenolic impregnated carbon ablator, PICA) in terms of decomposition temperature, char yield, and mechanical strength. Initial ablative testing with a CO2 laser under high-heat-flux (1,100 W/cm2) conditions showed these new ablators are over twice as effective as PICA in terms of weight loss, as well as transfer of heat through the specimen.