Graphite Ablation in Subsonic Dissociated Flows of Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide, Their Mixture and under Laser Surface Heating

Graphite ablation in subsonic jets of dissociated nitrogen, carbon dioxide and their mixture is studied using the VGU-4 high-frequency plasmatron. For additional radiative heating of the samples, a laser source is used. Numerical modeling of subsonic flows of nitrogen and carbon dioxide plasma is carried out under the experimental conditions using the Navier–Stokes equations. The heat fluxes in high-enthalpy jets are measured by probes and the plasma emission spectra in the experimental regimes are recorded. The behavior of graphite heated only by laser radiation in the nitrogen medium, heated in the nitrogen plasma and under combined heating is studied. The effect of the chemical composition of high-enthalpy flow and the heating conditions on the graphite mass loss is demonstrated.