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Issued patent
A New Family of Low-Density, Flexible Ablators
An issued NASA patent from the Technology Transfer catalog.
About this technology
Overview
NASA has developed a method for producing a flexible, fibrous ablator thermal protection material for use on space vehicles experiencing temperatures of 1000° F (550° C) or above upon atmospheric re-entry. The flexible ablator has controllable elastic modulus and controllable flexibility to withstand a wide range of heating rates comparable to rigid ablators, such as PICA and Avcoat. A phenolic resin and/or a silicone resin can be used. The elastic modulus of the resulting material is low, in a preferred range of about 200-5000 kPa, and can be controlled by choice of a curing temperature and/or a time interval length for curing.