Simulation study of laser ablation of C/SiC composites

With the advancement of laser technology, the development of laser weapons for the destruction of hypersonic vehicles has emerged as a significant area of research. Carbon/silicon carbide (C/SiC) composites are increasingly utilized in the thermal protection systems of hypersonic vehicles due to their outstanding ablation resistance and high-temperature stability. Understanding the thermal damage effects of laser irradiation on these vehicles presents a critical challenge in the field of laser-based missile defense. This study employs numerical simulation to investigate the thermal ablation behavior of thermal protection materials for hypersonic vehicles when subjected to laser irradiation. A two-dimensional ablation model is established, and the unsteady state heat transfer differential equation is solved to obtain the time- dependent temperature field distribution and surface recession of the composite material. The pyrolysis of the material involves phase transition phenomena, which are represented through the relationship between specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity as a function of temperature. Additionally, the dimensionless mass ablation rate is derived at various temperatures, taking into account thermochemical ablation processes, including carbon oxidation, silicon carbide oxidation, and sublimation of C/SiC. COMSOL simulation software is utilized to conduct the thermal ablation simulations of laser-irradiated C/SiC composites. The results demonstrate good agreement with experimental data, thereby validating the accuracy of the proposed computational model.